1811.^ 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



34t 



opens them freely to the public to enjoy every 

 day but Sunday. There are many fine speci- 

 mens of Evergreens here one does not see North, 

 and the numerous varieties of Cucurbits ram- 

 bling over trellisses and arbor in a kind of negli- 

 gent, or perhaps we might say unconscious love- 

 liness, gave a peculiar character to the grounds. 

 The excellent health of the plants in the conser- 

 vatories showed that they were in the care of a 

 good gardener. The distant scenery from these 

 grounds is particularly impressive, and I shall 

 long remember the very short and pleasant visit 

 I made to Belmont. 



Melrose, the residence of Mrs. Governor 

 Brown, is farther away from Nashville. The 

 house is also beautifully situated to take advan- 

 tage of delightful distant views. The grounds 

 are extensive and pai*k-like, and the disposition 

 of the grand old trees is such, and the roads led 

 around the knolls and up the glades in such a 

 delightfully enticing way that a master hand 

 must have been employed in the original ar- 

 rangement. The Scotch Pine, for so far south 

 was doing wonderfully well here. 



Truett Sons & Morgan are out on the Edge- 

 field Road across the Cumberland River, through 

 a district abounding with improved gardens and 

 tasteful dwellings, and occupy in their nurseries 

 some five hundred acres. Of course most of the 

 stock is of fruit trees, the apple and peach 

 predominating. The more tasteful departments 

 of gardening are, ho^?ever, beginning to be 

 sought after ; and they feel very much encour- 

 aged with the future of horticulture South in 

 every way. The firm is an excellent one in every 

 respect, and we can all rejoice in the abounding 

 evidences of their prosperity. 



The grape seems to be the most popular fruit 

 about Nashville. The kind mostly grown is the 

 Ives, and it was strange to find a kind we think 

 so little of so delicious down here. Thus doth 

 climate modify all our kinds. 



Our notes must of necessity be brief; but we 

 must not omit one on Mr. Mclntyre's nursery. 

 It, like its owner, is still young ; but if the re- 

 ports we everywhere heard of his industry and 

 integrity mean anything, we may regard him as 

 one of the rising firms. His grounds are full of 

 beautiful specimens of Magnolia grandiflora, 

 which is commonly planted South as a Norway 

 Spruce is with us. He has a pure white sport 

 from that f^ood old rose Bougere, which has 

 proved constant for several years, and which he 

 thinks, and we think with good reason, will 



prove a little fortune for him. We hope so, for 

 he deserves it. 



For the first time we saw in flower the " Hen- 

 na " plant of the ancient Egyptians. It was 

 their royal plant, yielding a juice which bright- 

 ened their skin, and an odor which might set 

 the Mignonette wild with envy. It is Lawsonia 

 alba. 



"How Not to Do It." — The Editor of this 

 Magazine has been careful not to refer to^ any 

 matter of business that may relate to himself 

 personally in these pages, as he might be charged 

 with using his position for personal ends. Hence 

 the collection of 720 kinds of trees of which his 

 arboretum was formed at the Centennial, received 

 no notice here. But a matter has grown out of 

 this in connection with the Paris Exposition 

 which seems to be of public interest enough to 

 warrant ade^^arture from this rule. 



As usually seen at exhibitions, trees are taken 

 up and set in the »ame season, and thus look 

 shabby, and are no credit to the exhibitor or the 

 exhibition. Therefore, the ivhole of these 720 trees 

 were grown in boxes a year beforehand, and 

 thus were turned out on the Exhibition ground 

 with balls, and the testimony of the Judges on 

 the " growth " of these plants, as given in the 

 award made on them, shows how well this plan 

 worked. This collection, though bosting $3000 

 (including the commercial value of the trees) to 

 place on the grounds, received comparatively no 

 attention from Americans, but was very appre- 

 ciativelj' noticed by foreign papers, and the 

 owner therefore determined to make a similar 

 exhibit in Paris. Our people knowing how easy 

 it was to overcome difficulties of planting by 

 growing a year in tubs, had no restrictions on 

 time; but, in the French rules, we were met at 

 the outset with the regulation that " trees must 

 be in the ground one year beforehand." Suppos- 

 ing, however, that this would not be insisted on 

 after we explained our method, we had near a 

 thousand boxes made, and wrote to see what 

 could be done, but no answer was vouchsafed. 

 Fearing we might have addressed the wrong 

 party, we addressed two others in high connec- 

 tion with the Commission, but still not even the 

 poor courtesy of a reply ! Then we made a per- 

 sonal visit to Par's, and were told that they had 

 nothing to do with us — that an American must 

 apply for space through the American Commis- 

 sion ; and that in regard to the year-a-head rule — 

 rules were made to be observed. We pointed 



