THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN XJUIDE. 



21 



too much appreciated. They cany up large quantities of water into the 

 over-dried atmosphere, and this little forest of trees must play an impor- 

 tant and heneficial part to the neighbourhood. At the present time the 

 City is too crowded, and contains by far too few open spaces and trees. 

 There arc (it is true) two trees in the Bank of England, and one in 

 Cheapside, two or three smaller ones in 8t. Paul's Churchyard, and a few 

 others scattered about, but where are the trees which we possess in Pins- 

 bury Circus?" 



When will the corporation of London include within its paternity the 

 leafy and flowery life that works for ever in rendering the atmosphere lit for 

 the support of man ? There will be space in Smithficld soon where some 

 trees might bo planted, and in other places trifling outlays would add the 

 charm of verdant umbrage to the grand architecture Avhich is springing 

 up on every hand in the City. How would that venerable body earn the 

 thanks of a benefited population by an occasional tasteful planting of 

 trees and shrubs ! 



PINE GROWIN& EOE AMATEUES. 



FOEMERLT, the growth of this dehcious 

 fruit by the miclJle classes would, to say 

 the least of it, have been regarded aj a 

 piece of extravagant folly ; because, con- 

 sidering the appendages thought to be 

 necessary, in the shape of cumbrous 

 liouses, and the staff of gardeners reqvdred 

 to manage them, with the constant going 

 and coming of tlie coal and tan waggons, 

 the end could hardly be tliought to justify 

 tlie means. Consequently, the growth of 

 them was confined priucipally to the 

 gardens of the aristocracy ; but this arose 

 from the crude state of the sciences beai-- 

 ing on horticulture, first amongst which 

 we may class the political economy of the 

 time — that drag chain oa social progress, 

 when personated by the excise oilicer, and 

 from whose baneful influence Sir Robert 

 Peel, be it said to his renown, emancipated 

 horticultui'e, when he secured the repeal 

 of the glass duty, the removal of which, 

 with the repeal of the brick duty, set free 

 tlie springs of iavcntive intellect in the 

 cause of horticulture ; the result has been 

 a host of inventions, cheapening, and 

 simplifying, and bringing within the reach 

 of a numerous class of the community, 

 the means for prodiuiing these exotics, to 

 which they were before sti-angers. These, 

 coupled with the free and imfettered ex- 

 change of ideas, through the medium of 

 the periodicals devoted to the science, 

 by which means persons possessing too 

 limited incomes to keep a regular gardener, 

 found it possible to conduct their own 

 gardening alTairs themselves ; and, at the 



present day, there are few professional 

 men, or men of business, possessing a taste 

 for the same, who are not gardeners — at 

 least to the extent of their own require- 

 ments. Thus many ai'e enabled, with the 

 aid of an unskilled labourer, to enjoy not 

 only a good display of exotic flowers, biit 

 exotic fruits also, not excepting the pine. 

 And here, in this article ou "Pine-growing 

 for Amateurs," I should be wanting in 

 justice, did I not acknowledge with grati- 

 tude the service done by such men as 

 Mr. Hamilton, of Thornfield, who, having 

 made gardening tlieir practice and study, 

 have come forward so freely of late years 

 for the benefit of us youngsters, and laid 

 open the result of their experience. I 

 mention Mr. Hamilton here as being the 

 father of the " planting-out system," and 

 the system of fruiting the suckers whilst 

 still attached to tlie old stem, the system 

 wliich, after having grown pines in various 

 ways, I am about to recommend for the 

 amateur's adoption, being satisfied that it 

 is the simplest and safest plan for that 

 class of persons for whom I write, namely, 

 those who are at present unacquainted with 

 the growth of the pine, and are not in a 

 position to employ a regular gardener, 

 i'or those who are so acquainted I need 

 not prescribe rules, as they will follow 

 their plans according to the end they 

 have in view. For instance, should it be 

 necessary to produce the bulk of the crop 

 at one particular period of the year, it 

 might be necessary to modify the plan I 

 am recommendiug, and either have sepa- 



