232 THE FLORIST. 



propagated so freely from seed it may be a matter of surprise that any 

 other means should be adopted. For certain purposes, however, plants 

 struck from cuttings are very useful, for by this means quite another 

 habit is acquired : instead of the erect symmetrical plants which we 

 have from seed we have dwarf trailing plants which are admirably 

 adapted for planting on rock-work, &c. Messrs. Lane have long directed 

 their attention to this fact, and are now in possession of a nice stock of 

 such plants. 



American plants are very extensively grown. There are large quan- 

 tities of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Kalmias, Andromedas, &c., all of 

 which are very healthy, and have been one mass of bloom ; in fact, 

 some of the late varieties of Rhododendrons were still so. Standard 

 Rhododendrons, so much in demand for planting singly on lawns and a 

 variety of purposes, are here in great numbers ; as are also standard 

 Bays and Portugal Laurels — the latter full of flowers, which have a 

 pretty effect. 



Plant-houses and pits, as may be supposed, are very numerous : 

 besides those for specimen plants, there are a number for the young 

 stock of stove and greenhouse plants. Achimenes, Gloxinias, Pelar- 

 goniums, &c., are here in their newest and best variety ; their young 

 stock of greenhouse Azaleas is the largest we have seen, and remark- 

 ably clean and healthy. 



For specimen Azaleas three large span-roof houses are devoted. 

 The Messrs. Lane have long been celebrated for the culture of such 

 plants ; at the present time these, like their young stock, evince the 

 best of management. Of the more rare, we noticed tine plants of Alba 

 melior, considered one of the best white Azaleas in cultivation ; Beaute 

 de I'Europe, a very pretty carnation- striped variety ; Chelsoni, one of 

 the best in the way of Perryana : there are also some fine plants of 

 Azalea Lanei, a seedling of ]\Iessrs. Lane, which they consider by far 

 the best white Azalea in cultivation. Of old varieties they have mag- 

 nificent plants of Conspicua purpurea (a very showy variety, the flowers 

 of which have sometimes measured five inches in diameter), Duke of 

 Devonshire, Iveryana, IMurrayana, Perryana, Rubra plena (a very large 

 plant), Variegata, Gledstanesi, and many others ; we' also noticed 

 several plants on which three and four varieties had been worked 

 together — these, when in flower, are very pretty. In one of the 

 Azalea houses we noticed remarkably fine plants of the two varieties of 

 Rhododendron javanicum ; they are each about four feet high, bushy, 

 and well clothed with foliage to the pot's rim — a condition in which 

 they are rarely met with. 



Messrs. Lane's stock of orchard-house plants cannot possibly be sur- 

 passed. There are four span-roof houses devoted to this branch of 

 plant culture, the largest of which is 150 feet by 24, and it is now 

 intended to extend it to 300 feet, in order to meet the demand for 

 these trees. One house is specially devoted to fruiting plants ; it 

 contains most of the best varieties of Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, 

 Plums, and Cherries, besides several new or little known fruits, which 

 it is the object to test : we noticed plants in ten-inch pots of the Kaisha, 

 Moor Park, and several other Apricots, loaded with fruit — in fact, this 



