370 TUE FLORIST. 



It is, I believe, practised to some extent now, and in the Exeter Nursery 

 fine specimens of this tribe of plants are grown in rough wooden crates, 

 through whose interstices the roots penetrate, while the crate secures a 

 good ball of earth round the plant. 



At the end of this walk are the plant houses, of which the first is a 

 stove full of well grow^n young stock. At the back of this is a lean-to 

 north house, appropriated to the propagation of rare Coniferse. It is 

 full of small glass cases, within which the grafted plants are placed after 

 working till the graft has " taken," and the plant has been gradually 

 hardened. In many of the smaller kinds the manipulation is very 

 clever and dehcate, and the result in all cases seems to be perfect 

 success. This process is appHed to the rarer Abies, Thujse, Thujopsis, 

 Saxe Gothsea, Biota, &c. 



Kear the first stove is another more ancient one, having an old bark 

 bed within it. This house was appropriated to the propagation of Vines 

 in pots from eyes, and for the quantity I never saw so fine a lot. The 

 CameUia house adjoining had its upright front filled also with still 

 stronger Vines, to which magnificent in its superlative degree m ight 

 not inaptly be applied. Fruit trees in pots for orchard houses are well 

 and largely grown here, and for this purpose much import is attached to 

 the use of a good, sound, unctuous loam, which is firmly beaten and 

 rammed about the roots. The stock of Figs is large, although there 

 has been of late years a large demand for plants in pots of this excellent 

 fruit. I noticed also some good trained fruit trees, but the annual 

 growth of leviathan London has now rendered the atmosphere of 

 the nursery so impure that the Messrs. Lee have found it necessary to 

 take several acres of fine land at Hounslow to carry on this department 

 of their business successfully. At Feltham, also, they have extensive 

 grounds, where Hollies, Rhododendrons, and other shrubs are grown. 



Roses in pots for forcing are well done in this establishment, and 

 there is a large and well grown assortment, in every form and size, of 

 *' The Queen of Flowers." 



To give minute details of all the various houses would far exceed my 

 limits of time and space ; suffice it, therefore, to say, that they contain 

 a large stock of good things in young robust health. The Azalea house, 

 the one for hard wooded specimen plants, and the plants with varie- 

 gated fohage, are entitled to " honourable mention." This nursery has 

 contributed largely to the furnishing of the Crystal Palace and grounds, 

 which has thinned the stock of large Camellias, Hollies, &c. 

 BuxTED Park, Uckfield, Sussex. 



This place was the property of the late Earl of Liverpool, at whose 

 decease it came into the possession of its present proprietor, Francis 

 Harcourt, Esq. En route, I passed through the old town of Lewes, 

 and was struck with the menacing aspect of the chalk, which here 

 forms lofty and almost perpendicular cliffs, looking as if the annihilation 

 of the pigmy houses beneath them w^as impending The road from 

 Lewes first passes along a level, and then through a gently undulated 

 country, abounding in oak woods and hop gardens. It ^vas the height 

 of the hop-picking season, and " ever and anon" we passed waggon 

 loads of seemingly happy females, singing and chatting with great 

 volubility ; need I say they weie the hop-pickers ? 



