THE FLORAL WORL AND GARDEN GUIDE, 



69 



it, or they are simply turned out, a little 

 of the soil removed from the hall, the trees 

 replaced in their pots, tiiid the deficiency 

 made good with leaf-mould or Wanste:id 

 loam. It is worthy of remark, too, that 

 the most valued and most famous of the 

 race do as well in pots as the comraouer 

 kinds, if well cared for. Wellingtouia 

 gigantea makes a beautiful tree in a pot, 

 and may be shifted on till in the largest 

 sized pot, aud then be turned out without 

 the loss of a leaf or a fibre. It; may com- 

 fort Londoners and residents in the neigh- 

 bourhood of manufacturing towns to learn 

 that, at Stoke Newington, where tea-roses 

 do not come to perfection, coniferous trees 

 not only thrive in spite of smoke, but really 

 enjoy it, and have a heartier and liner 

 coloured foliage than the same species have 

 in tlie country. Coal smoke is capable of 

 either poisoning or feeding. Tiie ammonia, 

 that constitutes one of its ingredients, gives 

 to most evergreens a richer colouring than 

 they have in districts far removed from 

 smoky influences. I have been comparing 

 some of my trees that have endured the 



smoke for more than tliree 3-ears here, with 

 trees fiesii received from tlie country, and 

 tliere is so much difforence, in some cases, as 

 to make one imagine they are of different 

 varieties. This is particularly the case with 

 Pinus cembra, Picea pin«apo, Cedrus deo- 

 dara, Abies Menziesii, Biota conipacta, 

 Juniperus Hispanica, Irish yew, Taxus ad- 

 pressa, and Taxus Canadensis, all of which 

 show a richness and depth of colour, and, 

 through pot culture, a denseness of growth 

 that it would be impossible to equal in 

 plants of the same kinds in any coirntry 

 garden. I have just put out Wellingtonea 

 gigantea, Juniperus Virginiauce, and Abies 

 Khutrow in pairs, in a line of shrubs which 

 form the background ot a ribbon line, and 

 they are now of the light green which they 

 always have in the country. In twelve- 

 months' time their colours will have 

 changed to the same extent as if another 

 wash of their own colour had been laid on, 

 and will justify the remark you so often 

 hear, " How beautiful the evergreens are 

 in the suburbs of London !" 



Shirley Hibbekd. 



HAEDY JASMINES. 



The jasmine has been, from time immemo- 

 rial, a reigning favourite wherever it has 

 been known. In Ori-ntal poetry it is held 

 as the symbol of the purest cliastity aud 

 virgin love ; and in colder climates, even 

 where the idea partalies more of the mate.- 

 ri'il than in those sunny regions, it has 

 formed the theme of many an early " soft 

 inspiration." 



The Jasminium officinale has been with 

 us a favourite wall-shrub from beyond all 

 record. The earliest account we have of 

 it is from Gerarde, in 1599, who says it was 

 then in common use for covering walls and 

 arbours with. The variotas species form, 

 •with us, highly ornamental subjects for 

 every situation in which flowers are grown, 

 as they may be selected for the open air, 

 even to the bleakest spots, the greeniiouse 

 or conservatory, and the stove. The num- 

 ber of species grown in British collections 

 exceeds twenty, the most part producing 

 handsome white flowers of the richest fra- 

 grance. Tile linest is J. sambac, a native 

 of the East Indies, a very beautiful plant 

 wlien grown in a stove ; it also •ucceecls 

 well in >i greenhouse, if allowed a warm 

 situation. Tiiis plant wns first intioduced 

 and grown in the Hampton Court gar<lens, 

 but from some cause was lost soon after. 

 Jt was then known in Europe only at thfe 



gardens of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at 

 Pisa, where, we are informed by Evelyn 

 (Memoirs, etc., by Bray), a guard was 

 placed over the plant, tliat no cuttings 

 might be purloined. From this circum- 

 stance a very pretty tale has been manu- 

 factured, which relates that the gardener, 

 being attached to a beautiful peasant in 

 the neighbourhood, but obliged to defer the 

 completion of their happiness from pecu- 

 niary reasons, contrived to escape the vigi- 

 lance of the guard, and gathered a sprig of 

 this much-prized jasmine as a pi-esentto his 

 mistress. The young girl, wishing to pre- 

 serve this love-token, stuck it in the earth, 

 where it soon emitted roots, and, by certain 

 judicious hints given by her lover, it soon 

 became the means of securing them all they 

 wished ; hence, too, the origin of this flower 

 being a chosen bridal present. The plant 

 was not grown in England ajrain till the 

 year 1730, when it was sent to Miller, of 

 the Botanic Gardens, at Chelsea. It is 

 now found in all good collections. It grows 

 best in a fresh turfy loam, and should be 

 pruned back freely every aummn. Tha 

 Mandevillea suaveolens was fixst imported 

 under the name of Chilian jasmine, to which 

 it bears a very close iiSnity. J ea'andi- 

 floruin and J. azoricum are two very fine 

 sorts. Ihey are propagated by grafting on 



