The parent insect is of the genus of cynips. Some poplars in the garden are quite loaded with these excrescences.*

CHESTNUT TIMBER.-John Carpenter brings home some old chestnut trees, which are very long; in several places, the woodpeckers had begun to bore them. The timber and bark of these trees are so very like oak, as might easily deceive an indifferent observer; but the wood is very shakey, and, towards the heart, cup-shakey, (that is to say, apt to separate in round pieces like cups,) so that the inward parts are of no use. They are bought for the purpose of cooperage, but must make but ordinary barrels, buckets, &c. Chestnut sells for half the price of oak; but has sometimes been sent into the king's dock, and passed off instead of oak.

LIME BLOSSOMS.- Dr Chandler tells, that, in the south of France, an infusion of the blossoms of the lime tree, (tilia,) is in much esteem as a remedy for coughs, hoarsenesses, fevers, &c.; and that, at Nismes, he saw an avenue of limes that was quite ravaged and torn in pieces by people greedily gathering the bloom, which they dried and kept for these purposes.

Upon the strength of this information, we made some tea of lime blossoms, and found it a very soft, well flavoured, pleasant, saccharine julep, in taste much resembling the juice of liquorice.

BLACKTHORN. This tree usually blossoms while cold north-east winds blow; so that the harsh rugged weather obtaining at this season is called, by the country people, blackthorn winter.

IVY BERRIES.-Ivy berries afford a noble and providential supply for birds in winter and spring; for the first severe frost freezes and spoils all the haws, sometimes by the middle of November. Ivy berries do not seem to freeze.

HOPS.- The culture of Virgil's vines corresponded very exactly with the modern management of hops. I might instance in the perpetual diggings and hoeings, in the tying to the stakes and poles, in pruning the superfluous shoots, &c.; but lately, I have observed a new circumstance, which was, a neighbouring farmer's harrowing between the rows of hops

* Mr David Don, a botanist of distinguished talents, has discovered, that, on detaching the spiral vessels from vigorous young shoots of herbaceous plants, they frequently become violently agitated; the motion con-tinues for some seconds, and may be somewhat similar to that of the heart of animals under similar circumstances. These vessels abound in the stems of the urtica nivea, of centaurea atro-purpurea, and of the malvacæ. -ED.

with a small triangular harrow, drawn by one horse, and guided by two handles. This occurrence brought to my mind the following passage:—

ipsa

Flectere luctantes inter vineta juvencos.

Georgic II.

Hops are diécious plants: hence perhaps it might be proper, though not practised, to leave purposely some male plants in every garden, that their farina might impregnate the blossoms. The female plants, without their male attendants, are not in their natural state: hence we may suppose the frequent failure of crop so incident to hop-grounds. * No other growth, cultivated by man, has such frequent and general failures as hops.

Two hop gardens much injured by a hail storm, (June 5,) shew now (September 2) a prodigious crop, and larger and fairer hops than any in the parish. The owners seem now to be convinced that the hail, by beating off the tops of the binds, has increased the side shoots, and improved the crop. Query, Therefore, should not the tops of hops be pinched off when the binds are very gross and strong?

* The various mechanical contrivances by which Nature has enabled plants to diffuse their seeds, are matters of common observation, and that of the violet is not the least remarkable. The seeds of this natural order of plants are contained in a capsule of a single loculament, consisting, however, of three valves. To the inner part of each of these three valves the seeds are attached, and remain so for some time after the valves, in the process of ripening, have separated and stood open. The influence of the sun's heat, however, causes the sides of each valve to shrink and collapse; and, in this state, the edges press firmly upon the seed, which, from being before apparently irregular in its arrangement, comes into a straight line. The seeds, it may be remarked, are not only extremely smooth, polished, and shining, but regularly egg-shaped; so that, when pressed upon by the collapsing edge of the valve, it slides gradually down the sloping part of the seed, and throws it, with a jerk, to a considerable distance.

There is another beautiful contrivance in the violets, (violacea,) well worthy our admiration. Before the seed is ripe, the capsule hangs in a drooping position, with the persisting calyx spread over it, like an umbrella, to guard it from the rain and dews, which would retard the progress of ripening; but no sooner is the ripening completed, than the capsule becomes upright, with the calyx for a support. This upright position appears to be intended by Nature to give more effect to the valvular mechanism for scattering the seeds, as it thus gains a higher elevation (in some cases more than an inch) from which to project them; and will give it, according to the laws of projectiles, a very considerable increase of horizontal extent. -ED.

SEED LYING DORMANT.- The naked part of the Hanger is now covered with thistles of various kinds. The seeds of these thistles may have lain probably under the thick shade of the beeches for many years, but could not vegetate till the sun and air were admitted. When old beech trees are cleared away, the naked ground in a year or two becomes covered with strawberry plants, the seeds of which must have lain in the ground for an age at least. One of the slidders, or trenches, down the middle of the Hanger, close covered over with lofty beeches near a century old, is still called strawberry-slidder, though no strawberries have grown there in the memory of man. That sort of fruit did once, no doubt, abound there, and will again, when the obstruction is removed. *

* Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. well known for his zeal for science, made some very curious and interesting experiments, in 1817, on the germination of seeds, which we shall give in his own words: "A friend of mine possesses an estate in this county, a great part of which lying along the Moray Firth, was, at some period not very well ascertained, but certainly not less than sixty years ago, covered with sand, which had been blown from the westward, and overwhelmed the cultivated fields, so that the agriculturist was forced to abandon them altogether. My friend, soon after his purchase of the estate, began the arduous, but judicious operation of trenching down the sand, and bringing to the surface the original black mould. These operations of improvement were so productive, as to induce the very intelligent and enterprising proprietor to undertake, lately, a still more laborious task, viz. to trench down the superincumbent sand, on a part of the property where it was no less than eight feet deep.

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Conceiving this to be a favourable opportunity for trying some experiments relative to the length of time which seeds preserve their power of vegetation, even when immersed in the soil, I procured from my friend a quantity of the mould, taken fresh from under the sand, and carefully avoiding any mixture of the latter. This was instantly put into a jar, which was stopped up close, by means of a piece of bladder tied tightly over its mouth. Having prepared a couple of flower-pot flats, by drilling small holes in the bottom of them, so as to admit of the ascent of water, I filled the flats with some of the mould, and placing them in a very wide and shallow tub, made on purpose, I covered each of them with a large glass receiver. Each receiver, however, was provided with a brass rim, having little brass knobs on it, so as to raise its edge from the bottom of the tub, and leave a small opening for the admission of air. The whole apparatus was placed in my library, of which the door and windows were kept constantly shut.

This was done on the 17th of February last. It is now the 6th of May; and, on examining the flats, I find about forty-six plants in them, apparently of four different kinds; but, as they are yet very young, I cannot determine their species with any degree of accuracy."

Sir Thomas has just informed us, that the seeds which germinated were all highly oleaginous; and the plants produced were the mouse-ear,

BEANS SOWN BY BIRDS.-Many horse-beans sprang up in my field-walks in the autumn, and are now grown to a con'siderable height. As the Ewel was in beans last summer, it is most likely that these seeds came from thence; but then the distance is too considerable for them to have been conveyed by mice. It is most probable, therefore, that they were brought by birds, and, in particular, by jays and pies, who seem to have hid them among the grass and moss, and then to have forgotten where they had stowed them. Some peas are growing also in the same situation, and probably under the same circumstances.

CUCUMBERS SET BY BEES.-If bees, who are much the best setters of cucumbers, do not happen to take kindly to the frames, the best way is to tempt them by a little honey, put on the male and female bloom. When they are once induced to haunt the frames, they set all the fruit, and will hover with impatience round the lights in a morning, till the glasses are opened. Probatum est.

WHEAT.A notion has always obtained, that, in England, hot summers are productive of fine crops of wheat ; yet in the years 1780 and 1781, though the heat was intense, the wheat was much mildewed, and the crop light. Does not severe heat, while the straw is milky, occasion its juices to exude, which being extravasated, occasion spots, discolour the stems and blades, and injure the health of the plants?

TRUFFLES.-August. - A truffle-hunter called on us, having in his pocket several large truffles found in this neighbourhood. He says, these roots are not to be found in deep woods, but in narrow hedge-rows and the skirts of coppices. Some truffles, he informed us, lie two feet within the earth, and some quite on the surface; the latter, he added, have little or no smell, and are not so easily discovered by the dogs as those that lie deeper. Half-a-crown a pound was the price which he asked for this commodity.

Truffles never abound in wet winters and springs. They are in season, in different situations, at least nine months in the year.

*

(myosotis scorpiodes,) scorpion grass, (Lamium purpureum,) red archangel, and (spergula arvensis,) corn spurrey. The earth thus experimented upon was taken from the lands of Inveragie. -ED.

This singular vegetable belongs to the class of cryptogamic plants, and the tuber cibarium of Linnæus: it grows entirely under ground having neither root, stem, nor leaf, and of a black colour, strongly scented, of a globular shape, growing to the size of a large duck's egg,

TREMELLA NOSTOC.-Though the weather may have been ever so dry and burning, yet, after two or three wet days, this jelly-like substance abounds on the walks.

FAIRY RINGS. The cause, occasion, call it what you will, of fairy rings, subsists in the turf, and is conveyable with it; for the turf of my garden-walks, brought from the down above, abounds with those appearances, which vary their shape, and shift situation continually, discovering themselves now in circles, now in segments, and sometimes in irregular patches, and spots. Wherever they obtain, puff-balls abound; the seeds of which were doubtless brought in the turf.*

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

BAROMETER.-November 22, 1768.— A remarkable fall of the barometer all over the kingdom. At Selborne, we had no wind, and not much rain; only vast, swagging, rock-like clouds appeared at a distance.

PARTIAL FROost.The country people, who are abroad in winter mornings long before sun-rise, talk much of hard frost in some spots, and none in others. The reason of these partial frosts is obvious, for there are at such times partial fogs about where the fog obtains, little or no frost appears; but

with a rugged surface-like work. It is held in high estimation by epicures, being used in various dishes, stuffing of turkeys, and sometimes it is boiled in port wine and eaten with salt, and purchased, when scarce, at two guineas per pound weight. Truffles are produced in various parts of the Continent, where they are searched for with swine. In England, they are found in the southern counties growing in woods, chiefly in Sussex, Harts, and Berks, where they are discovered by dogs, the sagacity of these animals pointing out the places by the scent. The season for truffles commences in September.-ED.

*The true cause of this phenomenon is not yet properly understood. Mr Dovaston is of opinion that they are occasioned by electricity, and that the fungi which are seen on these rings are the effect rather than the cause, of these appearances. Mr Johnson, of Wetherby, in a paper in the fourth volume of the Philosophical Journal, attributes them to the droppings of starlings, which, when in large flights, frequently alight on the ground in circles, and sometimes are known to sit a considerable time in these annular congregations. ED.