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THE FLORIST. 



drained; and this, when properly diluted, is the aqua vita with which 

 the plants are occasionally deluged, and which has infused so much 

 life into them. To this manuring, no doubt, the brilliant colour of 

 the flowers is in some measure attributable. My old favourites — 

 Souvenir de Malmaison and Mrs. Bosanquet — were in splendid con- 

 dition, as also were Tea Caroline, Bourbon Phoenix, Proserpine, 

 Baronne Prevost, Solfaterre, and Lamarque. 



Adjoining the house, and accessible from the drawing-room, is a 

 long, narrow, lofty conservatory, with a curvilinear roof of ground- 

 glass ; in it are planted various Camellias, and other greenhouse 

 plants, and there are also some very splendid climbing plants. It was 

 here that Tacsonia manicata first produced its magnificent scarlet 

 flowers, and it still continues to bloom every season. T. molissima 

 was loaded with blossoms, and a large specimen of Mandevilla suave- 

 olens was a sheet of its delicious pure white flowers. At the back 

 of this conservatory there is a large Camellia house, containing some 

 fine and promising young plants, and some tree specimens of Cestrum 

 elegans and Aurantiacum. 



The kitchen garden is situated a short distance from the house, 

 and contains two vineries, with pits for Pines, two remarkably com- 

 pact span-roof pits for Cucumbers and Melons, and several ranges of 

 pits for other purposes. The Vines bore a very good crop of Muscat 

 and Hamburghs ; but through the excessive wet, cold soil, and the 

 want of proper drainage, they had not "finished" quite so well as 

 could be desired ; indeed, Mr. Eyre said he found the points of the 

 roots quite black and dead, owing no doubt to the excess of moisture. 

 The Cucumber-house was full of splendid fruit ; but the Melon-house 

 has been devoted to the culture of Orchids and other stove-plants, 

 and there was a magnificent plant of Stephanotis floribunda covering 

 the entire roof. The Melon pits contained some fine fruit, and some 

 Pine plants were also coming on. Mr. Slade is a Tulip fancier, and 

 has a fine bed of choice kinds. The borders in the kitchen-garden are 

 planted with flowers ; and here also Roses are in wild luxuriance, 

 some of the kinds producing shoots of prodigious strength. The gar- 

 dener's cottage is in the Elizabethan style, and with its trim garden, 

 rich in standard Rhododendrons and Roses, has quite an enviable ap- 

 pearance. Here we noticed, for the first time, a very handsome lawn 

 specimen of the New r American Weeping Willow (Salix americana pen- 

 dula), forming a graceful pyramid some twelve or fourteen feet high ; 

 and there was also a nice plant of Pinus insignis. In a plantation 

 adjoining the kitchen-garden some of the choicer Pinuses have been 

 planted out, and where they have room are making splendid plants. 

 In this plantation Providence has left a finger-mark. During the 

 remarkable storm in June, " the lightning, followed with a thunder- 

 bolt," struck a huge Oak, the largest and tallest in the place ; and 

 though a plant that would square eighteen inches or two feet of 

 timber at the base, shivered it to atoms, distributing the branches in 

 ail directions, and some to a distance of several hundred feet. The 

 trunk was split to the very base — large enough to admit a man's leg; 

 and some of the heart-wood was shivered and doubled up like so much 



