with your finger, just where the tongue in the shoot is to come; put into the hole about a tea-spoonful of silt, or fine sand, from the river; then with your finger and thumb gently bend the shoot into the earth, observing to keep the top as upright as possible, that the slit may be open; and, having provided forked sticks for the purpose, thrust one of them into the ground, so that the forked part may take hold of the layer in order to keep it down in its proper place; then cover the shank of the layer with soil, giving it a gentle watering, which should be repeated as often as it is necessary to promote their taking root. They will have taken root in about five or six weeks; cut thom off from the parent plant, leaving about an inch of the stalk below the incision attached, and plant them in pots or beds, or in the borders, as you intend to bloom them. The soil suitable for the carnation and pink is rich maiden loam, to which add one third part of well rotted cow dung, and about one sixth part of drift sand from the side of the river, or other water courses; to this add a small quantity of air slacked lime, say a quart to a barrow full, and about double the quantity of wood ashes; mix these well together several times in the autumn and spring, and use it the second season: protect your compost with boards from the drenching rains and the mid-summer sun.

To Propagate by Pipings.—The piping of the carnation is not attended with as much success as the piping of the pink. The weather, during the months of July and August, is much against this method of propagating the carnation; not more than one half of the pipings that are put in ever take root; and were it not that some of the best sorts make very little and very short shoots, and are also very brittle, and difficult to propagate by layers, I should recommend that the piping of carnations should be discontinued: but, as the most difficult sorts to propagate are generally the most valuable, the best method is to prepare a slight hot-bed in an eastern aspect, and as soon as the heat is moderate, lay on about six inches thickness of light mould, sifted finely. No piping should have less than two or three complete joints. Take off the cutting horizontally, just below the second or third joint, and merely cut off the leaves from the joint that is to be inserted into the soil, but leave the others entire, except the tops, which cut off square, a little above the centre of the crown of the shoot. After giving the earth of the bed a moderate watering, place on a hand or bellglass to mark the boundaries in which the pipings are to be planted; plant the pipings half an inch deep, and at least an inch and a half or two inches distant from each other. Many authors say not more than an inch apart. This I conceive to be an error, and one of the causes of failure in piping: by crowding too many pipings under the glass, they hold too much moisture and damp off. After you have put in all your pipings, give them a gentle watering, to fix the soil closely about them; let them remain uncovered until the leaves are dry; then place on the glasses, and press them gently down to prevent the admission of air; give the pipings a little morning sun, but always shade them when the heat becomes strong, which may be done by covering the glasses with mats. It is necessary, after the first week, that the glasses be occasionally taken off to admit air, but this must never be done when the sun is powerful, but rather in cloudy weather, or early in the morning. When the pipings are watered, never place the glasses over them until the leaves are dry, and then not without first drying the glasses, or mildew will be the consequence; and this must be continued until the pipings are well rooted, which will be in about six weeks, when the glasses may be removed altogether. When there are any very choice varieties, I would recommend that they be piped with tumblers, and put only one piping under each glass. I have almost invariably succeeded in this manner, when the piping in mass has been nearly, if not quite, a failure.

The Propagation and Cultivation of the Garden Pink (Diánthus plumarius). The pink is more hardy than the carnation, and may be propagated with success, by dividing the roots in the spring; but as these divisions never make such good plants, or

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bloom so fine as layers or pipings, it is a desideratum to raise new plants every year, either from layers or pipings, as one year old plants bloom very superior to those of any other age. When your pipings are prepared, make choice of a shady part of the garden; let the soil be light and sandy; put your pipings in after the same manner as recommended for the carnation, watering them with a fine rose watering-pot, until the soil is completely saturated; cover them with a hand glass, which should not be removed until they begin to grow; after that they may be exposed in the morning and evening, until they are able to bear the open air. The usual time for piping the pink is July; but I have succeeded much better when I have attempted it in September. Dog-day weather is generally very much against the propagating of pinks by piping. The pink may be cultivated from seed in the same manner as the carnation, and in the same compost, with the addition of a little horse manure. Maddock gives the following as the criterion of a fine pink: "The stem should be strong and erect, and not less than twelve inches high; the calyx smaller and shorter than the carnation, but nearly similar in proportion, as well as in the formation of the flower, which should not be less than two inches and a half fn diameter. The petals should be large, broad, and substantial, and very fine fringed or serrated edges, free from notches or indentures; in short, they approach nearest to perfection when the fringe or edge is so fine as scarcely to be discernible; but if they could be obtained entire, it would be desirable. The broadest part of the lamina, or broad end of the petals, should be perfectly white, and distinct from the eye, unless it be a laced pink, that is, one ornamented with a continuation of the colour of the eye round it, bold, clear, and distinct, having a considerable proportion of white in the centre, perfectly free from tinge or spot. The eye should consist of a bright or dark rich crimson or purple, resembling velvet, but the nearer it approaches to black, the more it is esteemed its proportion should be about equal to that of the white, that it may neither appear too large nor too small."

ON GARDEN BALSAM.

GARDEN Balsamine or Balsam, is an annual plant, rising a foot and a half high, and dividing into many succulent branches. Leaves long, serrate. The flowers come out from the joints of the stem, upon slender peduncles about an inch long, each sustaining a single flower; but there are two, three or four of these peduncles arising from the same joint.

In its wild state, it is about two feet high, with an upright, round, hispid, juicy, white stem, and ascending branches.

By culture this plant is very much enlarged, and becomes very branching. I have seen the stem seven inches in circuit, and all the parts large in proportion, branched from top to bottom, loaded with its party-coloured flowers, and thus forming a most beautiful bush. The varieties which cultivation has produced in this elegant flower are numerous. White, purple, red, striped and variegated of these different colours, single and double of each. Mr. Miller in his Dictionary speaks particularly of two varieties, which perhaps may belong to some of the other species. First-the immortal Eagle, a most beautiful plant from the East Indies. The flowers double, much larger than those of the common sort, scarlet and white, or purple and white; and there being many of these, the plant is very valuable. Secondly-the Cockspur from the West Indies; which has single flowers, as large as the other, but never more than half double, but only with red and white stripes. This is apt to grow to a very large size before it flowers, which is very late in autumn, so that in bad seasons there will be scarcely any flowers, and the seeds seldom ripen.

Native of the East Indies, China, Cochin-china, and Japan; the Japanese use the juice prepared with alum, for dyeing their nails red. It was cultivated by Gerard in 1596.

Those who are curious to preserve these plants in perfection, pull off all the single and plain coloured flowers from the plants which they preserve for seeds, leaving only those flowers which are double and of good colours; where this is carefully done, they may be continued without the least degeneracy constantly. The Balsam is one of the most beautiful of popular annuals, forming a showy cone of finely variegated carnationlike flowers. The prevailing colour of the petals are red and white, the former extending to every shade of orange, purple, scarlet, lilac, pink, and especially carnation or flesh-colour. Those are esteemed the most beautiful varieties which have the flowers double, and striped in the manner of a flake or bizarre carnation.

The way to procure very large plants is to sow early in March, to commence transplanting into three-inch pots as soon as the plants have two proper leaves, and to shift every week or ten days into pots a size larger every time, till at last they are in pots of the largest or of a very large size, and in the richest light mould. The plants should be kept all the time in a hotbed or pit, plunged, and with abundance of room and air, and the heat of the melon or pine.

Fairweather, in a communication to the Horticultural Society, observes" that by transplanting only three or four times from No. 48 pots to those of eight inches diameter, be produce d Balsams four feet high, and fifteen feet in circumference, with strong thick stems, furnished with side branches from bottom to top, and these covered with large double flowers.

ON THE DIANTHUS.

PINKS do not seem to have attracted great notice among our ancestors. Parkinson has given very few varieties: as white, red, purple; Granado, matted and blush, both single and double. Ray says, that there are many sorts, but of little esteem, serving only for the sides of borders in spacious gardens, and some of them for posies, mixed with the buds of the damask rose; and that the best are the feathered pinks. It is only within the present century, and particularly of late years, that pinks have been much improved and varied, so as to be greatly valued among florists. Hogg has given a list of about one hundred names, containing the best sorts in England. Davey, who has raised numerous fine varieties, enumerates double that number. The principal varieties are, the damask, white shock, pheasant's eye, common red, Cob's, Dobson's, white Cob, and Bat's. The old man's head, and painted lady pinks, rather belong to the carnation.

The damask pink is the first of the double sorts in flower. This has but a short stalk; the flower is not very large, and not so double as many others; the colour is of a pale purple, inclining to red, but it is very sweet.

The next which flowers is the white shock, which was so called from the whiteness of its flowers, and the borders of the petals being much jagged and fringed; the scent of this is not so agreeable as that of some others.

Then come all the different varieties of pheasant's eye, of which there are frequently new varieties raised, which are either titled from the persons who raised them, or the place where they were raised; some of these have very large double flowers, but those which burst their pods are not so generally esteemed.

The cob pink comes after these to flower; the stalks of this are much taller than those of any of the former; the flowers are very double, and of a bright red colour; this having the most agreeable odour of all the sorts, merits a place in every good garden. The time of the pinks flowering is from the latter end of May to the middle of July, and frequently that sort of pheasant's eye which is called bat's pink will flower again in autumn.

The old man's head pink, and the painted lady, do not flower till July, coming at the same season with the carnation, to which

they are more nearly allied than to the pink. The first, when it is in its proper colours, is purple and white striped and spotted, but this frequently is of one plain colour, which is purple; this sort will continue flowering till the frost in autumn puts a stop to it; and the flower having an agreeable scent, renders it valuable. The painted lady is chiefly admired for the liveliness of its colour; for it is not so sweet, or of so long continuance at the other.

Criterion of a fine Double Pink.—The stem should be strong and erect, and not less than twelve inches high. The calyx smaller and shorter than that of the carnation, but nearly similar in proportion, as well as in the formation of the flower, which should not be less than two inches and a half in diameter. The petals should be large, broad, and substantial, and have very fine fringed or serrated edges, free from deep notches or indentures in short, they approach nearest to perfection when the fringe or the edge is so fine as scarcely to be discernible but if they could be obtained entire, it would be a very desirable object. The broadest part of the lamina or broad end of the petals, should be perfectly white and distinct from the eye, unless it be a laced pink, that is, ornamented with a continuation of the colour of the eye round it, bold, clean, and distinct, having a considerable proportion of white in the centre, perfectly free from tinge or spot. The eye should consist of a bright or dark rich crimson or purple, resembling velvet, but the nearer it approaches to black, the more it is esteemed; its proportion should be about equal to that of the white, that it may neither appear too large nor too small.

Propagation.-Pinks are ordinarily increased by pipings or cuttings, sometimes by layers, to preserve rare sorts, and by seed for new varieties. The time to commence putting in pipings is previous to or during the time of flowering, or as soon as the barren shoots are grown of a sufficient length for that purpose. Hogg commences about the 21st of June. The operation is the same as for pipings of carnations, only some do not apply bottom heat. This last, however, is the more certain mode, and the pipings are ready to remove sooner, and generally in a fortnight or three weeks.

Maddock says, a good fresh loamy soil, dug two feet deep, and manured with a stratum of cow-dung, two years old, mixed with an equal proportion of earth, is the best; this stratum to be about six inches thick, and placed five or six inches below the surface, is all the preparation that appears necessary for this flower.

As soon as the pipings are struck, they are to be removed and planted on a bed of common garden mould, and after a few weeks the strongest of them should be removed into the bloombed. This bed should be raised three or four inches above the paths. The plants intended for the principal bed for bloom should be planted upon it in August, or early in September, as they do not blow quite so well if removed later in the season; they should be planted at about the distance of nine inches from each other, and the bed should be laid rather convex or rounding, to throw off excess of rain, but will require no other covering than a very slight one, in case of severe frost. The surface of the bed should be stirred up a little, as it inclines to bind or become firm. There should never be more than ten or twelve flowers allowed to bloom on the same plant; the lateral smaller buds should be rulled off a month or six weeks before blooming, taking care always to leave the leading bud which terminates the shoot; by this means the flowers will be much larger than they otherwise would be. Strong healthy plants, consisting of a leading stem in the centre, with but little surrounding increase, are the best to select for the best bed; these will seldom put up more than one or two stems, which will, however, be very strong, grow tall, and produce three or four flowers, as large and fine as the kind is capable of.

Those buds which become much swelled nearly at the time of flowering, and appear in danger of bursting, should be tied up in the same manner directed for carnations. It is very desirable to have a long calyx, for it is hardly possible to prevent those

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off from where they started without using the knife, as they will root sooner by so doing. Strip off about half of the leaves, and insert them in a pot filled with leaf mould and sandy loam, with a small portion of sand: six or eight cuttings can be put into a pot four or five inches across. Place them in a shady situation; if a frame is at hand, they will do well in that: some persons make use of a bell-glass; but we have never seen a failure without them.

When they are rooted, which will be in the course of three or four weeks, they can be potted off into small pots, using the same compost as recommended for the cuttings. Place the plants in a shady situation until they strike out new roots, when they may be removed to a warm aspect. If all the plants are not wanted in the pots, they can be set in the border, where they will make a strong and rapid growth, and furnish abundance of shoots for cutting for bouquets. This is the best way to manage them, as in the winter season they lose their foliage and are mere dry sticks. To preserve them, however, a quantity of young plants must be kept in pots, as they make such a mass of roots, when growing in the border, that it is almost impossible to transplant them.

Upon the approach of cold they may be removed to the cellar, a frame, or placed under the stage of a green-house: we have kept them in either of these places with equal success.

When the plants are taken out in spring, head them down, and this will cause them to throw out strong new shoots; they may also, if wintered in small pots, be re-potted into a larger size pot. For the parlor no plant is better adapted; and the delightful odour of its foliage, combined with its pretty habit, render it very attractive.

ON THE RE-POTTING AND MANAGEMENT OF CHINESE ROSES.

FOR Chinese and tender roses a quantity of good fresh earth should be procured; preference should be given to that taken from an upland pasture field; the sod, with about four or five inches of earth adhering to it, is the very best part of the soil. If this has been procured three months before wanted for use, and turned over once or twice, breaking the whole and mixing the turf well with the soil, so much the better; however, if the earth is to be obtained immediately when wanted, take a sharp spade, and pare off about an inch of the green sward, and take the under soil to the depth proposed, observing to break it pretty fine with the spade or trowel, but by no means to pass it through the riddle, for, by so doing, the most nutritive part of it is thrown away. When this is done, add about one half old hotbed manure, or, if this is not at hand, use any other kind of stable manure that is well decomposed, with a portion of sand, and mix the whole well together; this thoroughly done, the compost is ready for use.

Supposing the plant to be re-potted is to be removed into a pot a size or two larger: in order to take the plant out of the pot with the ball entire, turn it upside down, and by giving the rim of it two or three gentle taps on the potting bench, the plant, with the ball of earth and roots, will, generally, immediately leave it; then trim off all the dry, matted, and moulded fibres of the roots, which spread about the side and bottom of the ball, and, with a small sharp-pointed stick, scrape away very carefully a part of the old soil all round; this done, put in a few potsherds at the bottom of the new pet for drainage, and having first put a little of the coarsest of the compost on this, place the plant in, filling up all round the ball to within about half an inch of the top, observing to cover over the surface of the old ball about an inch with the new compost. A thin piece of stick may be used with good effect, to work down the soil at the sides of the pot; then, by giving the bottom of the pot two or three thumps on the potting bench, and a gentle watering afterwards, the operation is completely finished.

SOME time ago, M. Bonafons gave to the world the result of an experiment on feeding the silk-worm on the leaves of the Maclura. Although the authority of that gentleman may be regarded as decisive on any matter connected with the culture of silk, yet, as many substitutes for the mulberry have been successively used and discarded, it was reasonable to suppose the maclura might share the same fate. On trial, however, we find it to answer all the purposes for which M. Bonafons recommended it; and as the silk business is an important branch of the industry in the colonies of this empire, we are induced to detail, in corroboration thereof, the result of our own experiment.

In the month of May we had a few thousand eggs to hatch; and, during the three first ages, the worms were fed exclusively on the leaves of the maclura. At the commencement of the fourth age they were divided into several parcels, with a view of giving to each a separate kind of food. About one third were continued on the same-the native mulberry was given to an equal number-a portion of the balance was fed on the maclura. and Chinese mulberry indiscriminately—and the remainder on the Chinese mulberry alone. During the process, we could not perceive that the worms manifested any partiality between the leaves of the maclura and those of the Chinese mulberry-if they evinced any, it was certainly not in favour of the latter. But they greatly preferred either to the leaves of the red mulberry, some of which were occasionally laid on the shelves, where they would suffer them to remain until compelled by hunger to eat them. On the contrary, when those which had the red mulberry leaves assigned them, were furnished with a few of the maclura, they would collect around the latter and devour them with avidity, before they would begin to feed on their accustomed diet.

The relative value, however, of the maclura and Chinese mulberry, for the production of silk, was only to be fully determined after the formation of the cocoons. It may be recollected by those who have read M. Bonafons' treatise, that he regarded the maclura as chiefly valuable for feeding the worms during their early ages; that subsequently they should be supplied with the mulberry, their natural food; and that, though the former would produce silk of a fair quality, yet it would be inferior, and in diminished quantity, compared with the product of the mulberry. We find this to be true as it regards the maclura and Chinese mulberry-so far, at least, as respects the size of the cocoon; but the maclura is at least of equal value with the red or native mulberry. The worms fed upon the Chinese mulberry spun cocoons, weighing from thirty to forty-five grains; those raised on the maclura and Chinese mulberry combined made their balls somewhat lighter on the average, while the weight of those obtained from the maclura and the red mulberry respectively was about equal, and still less than either of the preceding. The quality of the thread for manufacturing purposes we are unable to pronounce upon, not having yet submitted specimens to a competent judge. The cocoons were nearly all of a pale straw colour.

The value of the maclura then appears to us to present irresistible claims to the notice of those engaged in the rearing of silk-worms and horticulturists.

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SOME REMARKS ON PLOUGHING.

THERE are certain circumstances that constantly demand notice in the practice of ploughing land. In all the stiff, heavy, and much adhesive kinds of soils, that are much disposed to the retention of moisture, whether they be perfectly clayey, or have more of a loamy quality, it should be a common rule never to plough or turn them up when wet in any great degree, except where the nature of the crop requires it. And further, great injury is produced by the treading of the team, as well as a much greater power necessary in performing the operation. But at the same time they should not be permitted to become so dry and hard as to afford too great resistance in that way, before the operation is proceeded upon.

But in the dry, sandy, and probably in some of the more mellow and friable kinds of loamy soils, the business of ploughing, especially for the putting in of seed, may be performed when they are in a state of considerable moisture, not only without their suffering any inconvenience, or the seed being injured, but often with advantage, as they are liable to part with the watery particles they contain too readily. On this last account the very dry sorts of sandy land should, whenever the weather is hot and dry, merely be stirred in such a way as may be necessary to prevent the growth of weeds, otherwise the great exhalation of moisture in such seasons may render them too dry for the healthy vegetation of the seeds or plants that may · be sown or set upon them.

In regard to the depth and frequency of ploughing lands, they most constantly depend, in a great measure, upon the qualities and sorts of crops that are to be grown. But in general the different preparatory ploughings should be deeper than those of the seed furrow, which ought mostly to be light, and the slice not too much laid over, that the seed, especially where the broadcast method of sowing is adopted, may be the more perfectly covered.

Upon all light soils, it is necessary to preserve, at six or eight inches below the surface, what farmers call a pan; that is, the staple, at that depth, should be kept unbroken, by which means manure will be kept longer on the top; and in dry seasons, the less depth the pan has, the less liable the corn will be to burn, provided the pan consists of earth, and not of rock, because the roots of the corn will find more moisture by striking against a body of close earth than they will in a greater depth of hollow earth, as it is evident the former preserves more moisture in dry seasons.

In regard to the frequency of ploughing or turning over ground, in order to prepare and render it suitable for the production of good crops, it is obvious there must be much difference according to the nature and condition of the soil, as well as the kind of crop that is to be grown. The stiff, clayey, loamy, and even chalky soils, will in general, stand in need of more frequent stirring, either by means of the plough, drag, or harrow, in order to separate and break down their tenacious particles, than those of the sandy or gravelly, and more light kinds, in which there is much less adhesion. Besides, where lands have been in a course of tillage for some length of time, whether they are of a clayey, loamy, or even sandy quality, they may require less frequent stirring than where the contrary is the case. And where the method of putting the seed into the ground by means of drill machines is to be had recourse to, a fine state of tilth will, in general, be indispensably necessary. The nature of the crop that is to be cnltivated must, however, in most cases, direct the number of ploughings that may be necessary, as some demand a much finer state of tillage than others, though in most cases a well-reduced earth is favourable.

As ploughing is the most important of agricultural operations, it should be performed in a proper manner; the plough acts as a wedge separating the soil, and at the same time turning it over; but care is required in the ploughman to keep his furrows straight.

Three different points require particular attention in ploughing. First, the breadth of the slice to be out; second, its depth; and third, the degree in which it is to be turned overwhich last circumstance depends both upon the construction of the plough, particularly the mould board and the care of the ploughman. The breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulated by judiciously placing the draught on the nozzle or bridle of the plough; setting it so as to go more or less deep, and to take more or less land or breadth of slice as may be desired. In general the plough is so regulated, that if left to itself, and merely kept from rolling over, it would cut a little broader, and a little deeper than is required. The coulter is also placed with some inclination towards the left or land side, and the point of the stock or share has a slight tendency downwards. The degree to which the furrow-slice turns over, is in a great measure determined by the proportion between its breadth and depth, which for general purposes is usually as three is to two; or when the furrow is nine inches broad, it ought to be six inches in depth. When the slice is eut in this proportion, it will be nearly half turned over, or recline at an angle of forty or forty-five degrees; and a field so ploughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into angular drills or ridgelets. But if the slice is much broader, in proportion to its depth, it will be almost completely overturned, or left nearly flat, with its original surface downwards, and each successive slice will be somewhat overlapped by that which was turned over immediately before it. And, finally, when the depth materially exceeds the width, each furrow slice will fall over on its side, leaving all the original surface bare, and only laid somewhat obliquely to the horizon. Ploughing with the breadth and depth nearly in the proportion of three to two, is best adapted for laying up stubble land after harvest, when it is to remain during winter exposed to the mellowing influences of frost, preparatory to fallow or turnips. The shallow furrow of considerable width, as five inches in depth by eight or nine wide, is understood to answer best for breaking up old leys, because it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the manured soil. Ploughing with the depth of the furrow considerably exceeding the width, is a most unprofitable and uselessly slow operation, which ought seldom or never to be adopted The most generally useful breadth of a furrow-slice is from eight to ten inches, and the depth, which ought to be seldom less than four inches, cannot often exceed six or eight inches, except in soils uncommonly thick and fertile. When it is necessary to go deeper, as for carrots, and some other deep-rooted plants, a trench ploughing may be given by means of a second plough following in the same furrow. Shallow ploughing ought always to be adopted after turnips are eaten on the ground, that the manure may not be buried too deep; and also in covering lime, especially if the ground has been pulverized by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the soil. In ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is commonly necessary to go rather deep, that no part of the manure may be left exposed to the atmosphere. In the first ploughing for fallows and green crops, it is advisable to work as deep as possible, and no great danger is to be apprehended, though a small portion of the subsoil be at that time brought to the surface. The furrow-slices are generally distributed into beds, varying in breadth according to circumstances; these are called ridges or lands, and are divided from one another by gutters or open furrows. These last serve as guides to the hand and eye of the sower, to the reapers, and also for the application of manures in a regular manner. In soils that are strong or retentive, or which have wet close subsoils, these furrows serve likewise as drains for carrying off the surface-water; and being cleared out after the land is sown and harrowed, have the name of water furrows. In wet lands, furrows are sometimes drawn or dug across the ridges, for the purpose of carrying off the surface-water from hollows-these are called cross-water furrows. Ridges are not only different in breadth, but are raised more or less in the middle on different soils. On clayey retentive soils, the great point to be attended