MARCH. 81 



summer, it mil be remembered,, was unusually wet and cloudy, conse- 

 quently the young wood was not sufficiently ripened, and therefore 

 less able to withstand the severe weather it had lately to encounter. 

 Numbers of New Holland and New Zealand shrubs, that have stood 

 out for years uninjured, are this season cut down to the ground, and 

 in many cases completely destroyed. Several species of Acacia, against 

 the walls, including large specimens of Affinis, which had stood 

 several years, are now quite killed. Eucalyptus pulvigera, and E. 

 amygdalinus are killed, and many other species of this genus are all 

 injured to a greater or less extent. Benthamia fragifera, where it 

 is exposed, is dead ; but against the wall it will only lose its leaves. 

 Garrya elliptica, in exposed situations, has suffered severely by having 

 its leaves browned. Evergreen Oaks and the Chinese Privet will lose 

 mostly all their leaves, being, to all appearance, scalded, and fast 

 falling off. The common Bay tree is very much browned all over, 

 and numbers of fine young plants of it, from two to four feet high, 

 seem quite dead. Arbutus procera, against a wall, is scarcely hurt; 

 but where it has been planted as a standard, its leaves are all injured. 

 The evergreen Beech (Fagus betuloides) will this season become de- 

 ciduous, its leaves being all browned and falling off. Picea Webbiana 

 will also lose its leaves. Taxodium sempervirens is so much browned 

 that it will be a long time before it recovers. Cryptomeria Lobbi has 

 had its young shoots nipped ; but it is perhaps not killed, though it 

 looks very sickly. Pinus tecote, P. insignis, P. cephalonica and 

 P. rudis, are all very much browned, and in some cases appear doubt- 

 ful of recovery. Araucaria Bidwilli will not prove hardy ; a plant of 

 it here, four or five feet high, against a west wall, though covered up 

 with a mat, has had all its branches killed. The Chinese Fan-palm 

 (Chemserops humilis) appears very hardy, as it is not injured, though 

 it has only had the slight protection of a little loose fern around its 

 stem. J. HouLSTON. 



ORCHARD-HOUSES AND GLASS-CASES. 



No. H. 



Mr. Ewing's glass walls next demand attention ; these form an 

 elegant addition to our gardens, and consist of two perpendicular 

 faces of glass placed in iron frames some 2 or 3 feet apart, and 10 

 feet high ; these enclose a double trellis, for training two sets of trees 

 to ; the upright sashes are made to slide in a groove at top and 

 bottom, for the purpose of giving air and managing the trees. The 

 material and finish of these walls are such as to render them com- 

 paratively expensive; but their ornamental appearance is much to 

 be commended where circumstances admit of their erection ; they 

 have not been long enough under trial to speak yet of their merits in 

 respect to their value for securing and ripening the finer kinds of 

 fruits. 



NEW SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. XXXIX. G 



