324 THE FLORIST. 



April cut this back to (say) 5 or 6 feet, according to the height required, 

 allowing from 3 to 4 ftr the growth of the young shoots before 

 branching out. Shake it out, and repot it in a proportionate sized pot, 

 giving it nothing but well-decayed .Melon ground dung, in lumps, and 

 a little sand ; if convenient to the parties, give a little bottom heat, that 

 by having a stock it gives earlier bloom, but this is by no means 

 necessary to success ; when it begins to break all the shoots must be 

 rubbed off but one — in this and the dung, I consider, lies the secret. 

 For three months, I have seen from twenty to eighty blooms out 

 every morning on this young shoot, filling the air with perfume. 

 The older the plant the more certain the success as to large blooms and 

 rich dark leaves. 



J. F. 



LEASOWES, THE RESIDENCE OF THE POET SHENSTONE. 



This place is famous in the history of modern landscape gardening, but 

 very little is known of its details. The following from the pen of Whately 

 may be worth preserving : — 



" Near the entrance into the ground this walk suddenly plunges into 

 a dark narrow dell, filled with small trees which grow upon abrupt 

 and broken steeps, and watered by a brook, which falls among roots 

 and stones down a natural cascade into the hollow. The stream at 

 first is rapid and open ; it is afterwards concealed by thickets, and can 

 be traced only by its murmurs ; and gliding then between little groups 

 of trees, loses itself at last in a piece of water just below. The end of 

 this sequestered spot opens to a pretty landscape, which is very simple ; 

 for the parts are but few, and all the objects are familiar ; they are 

 only the piece of water, some fields on an easy ascent beyond it, and the 

 steeple of a church above them. 



" The next scene is more solitary ; it is confined within itself, a rude 

 neglected bottom, the sides of which are over-run with bushes and 

 Fern, interspersed with several trees. A rill also runs through this 

 little valley, issuing from a wood which hangs on one of the declivities ; 

 the stream winds through the wood in a succession of cascades down a 

 quick descent of a hundred and fifty yards in continuance ; Alders and 

 Hornbeam grow in the midst of its bed ; they shoot up in several 

 stems from the same root, and the current trickles amongst them. On 

 the banks are some considerable trees, which spread but a chequered 

 shade, and let in here and there a sunbeam to play upon the water ; 

 beyond them is a slight coppice, just sufficient to screen the spot from 

 open view ; but it casts no gloom, and the space within is all an animated 

 scene ; the stream has a peculiar vivacity, and the singular appearance 

 of the upper falls, high in the trees, and seen through the boughs, is 

 equally romantic, beautiful, and lively. The walk having passed through 

 this wood, returns into the same valley, but into another part of it, 

 similar in itself to the former ; and yet they appear to be very different 

 scenes, from the conduct only of the path ; for, in the one, it is open, 



