2'.iG 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 19, 1877. 



from the letters of introduction given to him by hia kind friend 

 Sir Joseph Banks, he left on the 10th of June for Lyons, in 

 the Botanic Garden of which city he saw for the first time a 

 living plant of the Vallisneria, which had not then been intro- 

 duced into England, and which he had only seen in a dry state 

 in the Hortus Siccus of Sir Joseph Banks. From Lyons he 

 went to Avignon, and then he visited the celebrated fountain 

 of Taucluee. Afterwards he proceeded to Marseilles, and 

 thence to Nice, from which city he sailed in a felucca for Genoa. 

 Daring the whole of his tour through France he visited the 

 gardens everywhere, and made memoranda of everything that 

 he thought would be useful for his intended work. lie also 

 made sketches of all the principal places, as he had previously 

 done in the north of Europe. 



Before leaving Genoa he procured a collection of Orange 

 trees, which he sent to England for his greenhouse at Bays- 

 water. He also saw for the first time slate boxes used for 

 Orange trees in the garden of Signore di Negre near Genoa. 

 In this city also he first mot with his friend Captain Mangles, 

 and joining him and Captain Irby they travelled together 

 along the shores of the Mediterranean, leaving Genoa on the 

 Gth of July in a felucca for Leghorn, where they arrived on 

 the 8th, and thence proceeded through Pisa to Florence. 

 During the whole of this tour Mr. Loudon's journal is entirely 

 filled with descriptions of the gardens he visited, observations 

 on the different modes of culture he saw practised, and various 

 remarks on the habits of plants. One of the latter, which 

 appears to me worth recording, is that he found Saxifraga 

 crassifolia killed by a very slight frost in Florence, though it 

 will bear a considerable degree of cold in more northern 

 climates. From Florence he went to Borne, and thence to 

 Naples, after which he visited Pompeii and Herculaneum, re- 

 turning through Rome to Florence on the 21st of August. In 

 these cities he visited all that is generally couaidered worth 

 seeing, and, of course, did not neglect his favourite gardens. 



About this period he saw for the first time a specimen of 

 the trick often practised by the Italian gardeners, which is 

 called by the French Grcji'c des Climlatans. This consists in 

 taking the pith out of the trunk and branches of an Orange 

 tree, and dexterously introducing through these a Rose tree or 

 any other plant which ii is wished shall appear to have been 

 grafted on the Orange. Care is taken not to injure the roots 

 of either, and if put cautiously into the ground both will pro- 

 duce leaves and llowers. 



The next place he visited was Bologna, near which he passed 



At Brussels be found the botanic garden in those days 

 nothing, but he liked the park and the promenade on the ram- 

 parts, to which the botanic garden has since been removed. 

 At Ghent he was also much pleased with the botanic garden, 

 and with the generally luxuriant appearance of the plants in 

 the private gardens near the town. In Bruges and Ostend he 

 found little to see, and he returned to Bayswater on the 9th of 

 October. 



As soon as he reached home he began the " Encyclopiedia 

 of Gardening," at which he worked with little intermission till 

 it was finisheii, though he was suffering severely at the time 

 from chronic rheumatism in his right arm, the pain from 

 which became at length so intolerable that in 1820 he was 

 compelled to call in medical aid, and being recommended to 

 try Mahomed's vapour baths, he went down to Brighton for 

 that purpose. Here, notwithstanding the extreme torture he 

 suffered from the shampooing and stretching, he submitted to 

 both with so much patience that they were continued by the 

 operators till they actually broke his right arm so dose to the 

 shoulder as to render it impossible to have it set in the usual 

 manner, and consequently it never united properly, though he 

 continued to use his hand to write with for several years. 

 (To be continned.) 



BEAUTY OF GLAZENWOOD BOSE. 



Other rosarians besides myself will feel obliged to Mr. W. G. 

 Smith for his letter on page 2G5. It proves that the true 

 name of this sensational Rose is "Fortune's Yellow," for it 

 appears to have been so pronounced by Mr. George Paul the 

 moment he saw Mr. Smith's original drawing. Not many 

 rosarians are " better up" in Roses than Mr. Paul ; and since 

 he exhibited the flowering plants at South Kensington which 

 were pronounced identical, and has also arrived at the same 

 conclusion by an inspection of the drawing, the question, to 

 my mind, is settled. 



The flower from which the figure was taken it appears 

 must have been an accidental sport, with the striping, as Mr. 

 Smith suggests," not permanent." No doubt Mr. Woodthorpe 

 was convinced that his Rose was distinct, and its possible in- 

 constancy did not occur to him ; and no one's disappointment 

 can be greater than his, and especially if other sportive blooms 

 are not produced of the same character as the original. 



The colours of the figure in the " Flore des Serres " must 



be much exaggerated, for the bloom there represented does 

 a day or two with an Italian family who were enjoying the I not bear even the faintest resemblance to Fortune's Yellow ; 

 pleasures of the vintage. He then went through Ferrara to yet Mr. Woodthorpe, as reported by Mr. Curtis, stated the 



Venice, the first part of the road to which was bordered by 

 hedges, in which were Vines laden with Grapes hanging from 

 tree to tree. At Deux Fonts he embarked in a boat, and 

 found the canal nearly all the way to Venice full ot beautiful 

 aquatic plants, among which was the Vallisneria. He was very 

 much struck with the imposing view that he first obtained of 

 Venice, including the grand square of St. Mark with its winged 

 lion on a granite column. He also remarked the freshness and 

 brilliancy of the paintings, and he noticed that the I'ost-ollice at 

 Venice was built upon immense piles of logwood. The whole of 

 the first night that he passed in Venice he was unable to sleep, 

 from the number of persons that were singing in parties in the 

 streets. Tlie following morning he hired a gondola and went 

 through the city, with which he was exceedingly delighted ; 

 for, as he says emphatically, " It is impossible to know what 

 Italian architecture and Italian paintings really are without 

 seeing those at Venice." Before leaving this splendid city he 

 procured a living plant of the Vallisneria, which he placed in a 

 little tin can containing water, and carried himself when he 

 was travelling lest any harm should happen to it. 



The next place he visited was Padua, where he saw the 

 celebrated botanic garden. The road from this to Vicenza was 

 bordered with hedges of Hibiscus syriacus. He had now 

 entered upon the district where silk is chiefly produced, and 

 foimd on each side of the road vast plantations of White Mul- 

 berry trees. Thence he proceeded to Rlilau, after which ho 

 visited the splendid gardens of Monza, with which he was 

 most exceedingly delighted. He found here square pots uni- 

 versally used for the plants in the greenhouses in order to save 

 room, and the tubs of the Orange and Lemon trees sunk in 

 the ground to keep the plants moist. He found the Tuberoses 

 most luxuriant and scenting the air. The botanic garden at 

 Milan is small but well filled. On leaving Milan he visited the 

 Borromean Isles, but thought the beauty of Isola Bella some- 

 what exaggerated. 



colours of the sport to be yellow flaked with vermiUon — 

 " the colouration of a Tulip," and that he did not think that 

 Mr. Smith's " brilliant plate had done justice to the richness 

 of colouring of the Rose itself." 



The facts resulting appear to be these : The Rose was pre- 

 maturely judged, hastily sold, and much overcoloured. I shall 

 endure my disappointment, but shall endeavour to profit by 

 the mistake that has been made. I have bought many Roses 

 in my time in reliance on the descriptions of others, but I will 

 never again purchase a new Rose until it has been exhibited 

 before competent and disinterested judges. I should like to 

 thank Mr. Paul, Mr. Smith, and Messrs. Editors for their aid 

 in bringing the matter to a decision. — Rosabian. 



OLD SEEDS AND NEW. 



Mccu of the theory advanced by " B. G., Co. Down," is new 

 to me. I know there are those who prefer old seeds of Melons 

 and Cucumbers, but I was not aware that anyone preferred 

 old seed of the Brassica tribe or of Beetroot. 



It may be set down as a general rule that new seed germi- 

 nates quicker and stronger than old seed does, and that plants 

 raised from new seed attain a larger size before they produce 

 fruit than those which are raised from older seed, hence the 

 priim'i facie good grounds for supposing that old seed of 

 Cucurbitacere is best ; but we find on close examination that 

 although plants raised from old seed fruit while they are of 

 comparative small size, yet owing to their want of robustness 

 it takes as long a period to grow them the size when they are 

 capable of perfecting fruit as it does to bring those raised from 

 new seed into a fruiting condition. 



It is of no use for a plant to show fruit unless it has sufli- 

 cient vigour to bring it to perfection. Fruit of good quality 

 cannot be produced without abundance of healthy foliage. 

 New seed of Cucurbitaceic is generally acknowledged to pro- 



