40 PLANTS SUITABLE FOR ROOM CULTURE. [Nov. 



unproductive. In Lincolnshire an estate of 320 acres adjoining 

 the Earl of Yarborough's domain has realized an average of £69 an 

 acre. In Suffolk a large corn farm was sold at £36 an acre. In 

 Westmoreland a grazing farm has lieen sold at £33 ; and in Lanca- 

 shire, near St. Helen's, the Earl of Derby recently purchased a small 

 farm, with minerals reserved, at £83 an acre. Lastly, a fact which 

 has been much discussed is found in the price obtained, on AVednes- 

 day week, for a farm of 168 acres in Essex, which being announced 

 for unreserved sale, was sold for £2400, although the property is 

 subject to annual outgoings for £10, and is seven miles from a 

 railway station. This price represents a value of £14 per acre, 

 without considering the charge referred to. Some expert land 

 valuers estimated that this property would sell for not more than 

 £8 per acre, and the fact that the higher price was attained after 

 some spirited competition is, we think, one of the most satisfactory 

 points in confirmation of our view, viz. that returning confidence in 

 land and the agricultural industry is apparent. 



PLANTS SUITABLE FOB ROOM CULTURE. 



BY ROBERT LINDSAY, CURATOR OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. 



THE taste for growing plants in our dwellings is happily in- 

 creasing. It shows, amongst other things, that a love of 

 plants for themselves is being acquii-ed, other than a love of flowers, 

 which is a very different thing. There are few persons, I imagine, 

 who do not love flowers ; but I am afraid the number who really 

 care about plants is more limited. One cause of this indifference, 

 particularly in the midst of large towns, is the supposed difficulty of 

 keeping plants in tolerable health for any length of time. This 

 difficulty is not insuperable ; but, even in the most crowded parts of 

 our city, a large proportion of our most beautiful plants may be 

 grown for a great length of time in almost perfect health. The 

 remarkable productions that are annually brought together in the 

 Grassmarket of Edinburgh, in connection with the Working Men's 

 Flower Show, may convince any doubter. Specimens exhibited there 

 from some of the most densely-crowded portions of the city, so far as 

 the healtli of the plants is concerned, are equal to anything that can 

 be produced with the help of all our modern appliances. Plants 

 are really not the exclusive things that some people imagine, but 

 may be grown by every one with more or less success, in all manner 

 of places, by those desirous of giving them a fair trial. There is 

 therefore no reason whatever why, with due care and attention,' many 



