424 



JODENAL OF HOBTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Jane 7, 1877. 



fall, doable flowers, ffo plants can be more safely trans- 

 planted, even when qaite large, than the Zinnias ; their stoat 

 npriRht growth withstands the eun better than most plants. 

 A Belpctiou of all the finest colours is a grand acijuisition to 

 e'verj fluwer garden. — {American Cultivator.) 



THE WEST BRIGHTON NURSERIES, 



CLIFTONVILLE. 



VisiTOBS to Brighton daring the past foar or five years 

 have noticed with mnch pleasure the beautifal grass plots, 

 shrabs, and ornamental flower beds known as Queen's Gar- 

 dens. Where these gardens now exist only a year or two 

 since there was nothing bat shingle and the bare banks of the 

 eeaehore. Everyone who has been to Brighton knows the 

 force of the wind from the sontb, which prevents shrabs, li-o., 

 from attaining any 

 great size anless pro- 

 tected by something 

 that will stand the 

 salt spray nnin j ared , 

 consequently no one 

 need wonder at the 

 scarceness of vegeta- 

 tion at this fashion- 

 able watering place 

 — " London- by-the- 

 Sea." 



There is one shrub 

 that appears invin- 

 cible — that is the 

 common Eaonymns. 

 It not only grows 

 and flourishes, bat 

 luxuriates in the salt 

 sea breeze, and it is 

 prinoipally to this 

 shrub that the reei- 

 dents of Queen's 

 Gardens are indebt- 

 ed for the lengthened 

 beanty and freshness 

 of the carpet bedding 

 so artistically ar- 

 ranged by Mr. W. 

 Miles, the principal 

 manager of the es- 

 tate and owner of the 

 nurseries known as 

 the West Brighton 

 Nurseries. To Mr. 

 Miles is the credit 

 due for the arrange- 

 ment of Queen's Gar- 

 dens and other gar- 

 dens on this estate, 

 once known as the 

 Stamford estate. 



Qaeen's Gardens 

 are not large, only 

 covering a few acres, 

 but to plant and caise shrubs and flowers to grow where 

 nothing ever grew before deserves recording, apart from the 

 artistic carpet bedding, which is every year so well represented. 

 A bank was thrown up and a hedge of Tamarisk planted, 

 and in front of these are five or six rows of Euonymuses. 

 These are periodically trimmed into shape and kept dwarf. 

 In front of the Euonymuses on the level below are the flower 

 beds in a kind of alcove. You first come to a bed planted 

 with some geometrical design, and a little further on to an- 

 other, and BO on to the end of the gardens. These beds are 

 only separated from the mnin road by light iron fencing. 



The nurseries of Mr. Miles consist of seven houses 100 feet 

 in length and about 14 feet wide, and five pits of the same 

 length, the whole built by Boulton & Paul of Norwich. They 

 are very Ught and useful houses, well adapted for the purposes 

 of growing such plants as Alternantheras and other plants 

 need in carpet bedding. How popular this style o( garden 

 decoration has become is instanced by the fact that Mr. Miles 

 grows at least 500,000 plants annually for furnishing carpet 

 beds. Numerous Palms, Dracainas, Ferns, A-c, are also grown 

 for furnishing purposes ; alBO some very fine AUamandas, 



Fig. 69.— Carpet bed at bbiohton. 



1, F.cheveria. 



2, Sedam glanoum. 



B, Mesembryanthemum cordifoliam variegatuni. 



4, AJternanthera amcsna Hpeotabilia. 



5, Antencaria tomentosa. 



6, Pyretbium Golden Feather. 



Bougainvilleas, Crotons, Draosenas, Tree and other Ferns, 

 which often carry off honours at the Brighton exhibitions. 

 Solanums, Poinsettias, Linums, Bouvardias, &a., are also 

 grown in great quantities for autumn and winter decoration. 

 Geraniums do better at Brighton than many other places. 

 The light, air, and sun suit both the show and scarlet sections 

 admirably. Of the latter Louis Venillot and Glow are found 

 the best for winter flowering, and produce an unfailing supply 

 of good trusses during the dull months of the year. 



Mignonette is also largely and well grown here. Mr. Miles 

 has always been a lover of this sweet flower, and is the raiser 

 of a very robust and sweetly scented variety. The habit of 

 the plant is sturdy and branching, each plant producing from 

 12 to 18 spikes from 12 to 20 inches in length. The flowers 

 are nearly white, many of the pips being half an inch in 

 diameter. It is nndoubtedly a fine variety, but its vigour 



is probably in some 

 measure due to su- 

 perior cultivation. It 

 is a cross between 

 Parson's Tree Mig- 

 nonette and the com- 

 mon variety, and 

 comes very true from 

 seed. I send you 

 some spikes of it, 

 which although con- 

 veyed in a close box 

 so perfumed the rail- 

 way carriage that 

 the passengers asked 

 if my little box con- 

 tained Violets. 



I sabmit also a 

 design of one of Mr. 

 Miles's carpet beds, 

 and a suitable mode 

 of planting it, which 

 may be useful to 

 those intending to 

 indulge in this mode 

 of decoration, especi- 

 ally as it is during 

 the month of June 

 when beds of this 

 character are plant- 

 ed. The design is 

 graceful yeteffective, 

 and as it is composed 

 of circles or their 

 segments it can be 

 easOy transferred to 

 the ground. — M. 



[The Mignonette 

 is the finest that 

 has come under our 

 notice. It is the 

 same variety that at- 

 tracted the attention 

 of Her Majesty the 

 Queen at the great 

 exhibition at South Kensington on May 2nd. — Ens.l 





7, Alternauthera paronyohyoidea. 



8, Mentha Pulegium gibraltarioum. 



9, Lobelia pamilamagniUca. 

 30, Kleiuia repene. 



11, Verouica incana 



12, Sedum L^diam. 



r Leucophyton Browni. 



RIDDINGS HOUSE, 



THE RESIDENCE OF J. HADEN OAKES, ESQ. 

 It matters little at what period of the year we visit the gardens 

 at Biddings House, for we are sure of a rich treat while there, 

 and to come avjay giatified with what we have seen. There 

 are upwards of a dozen fruit houses, many of them of large 

 dimensions, and nearly twice as many plant houses, besides 

 numerous pits and other appendages, all filled to overflowing 

 with choice collections of plants, many of them of recent intro- 

 duction, all free from insects and in excellent health. At 

 Biddings the visitor may look, and look again, " and still find 

 something new — something to please, and something to in- 

 struct." After a short ride on Whit-Tnesday afternoon from 

 Mansfield to Pye Bridge on the Erewash Valley line of railway 

 and a walk of a mile from the station through the village 

 of Biddings I found myself in company with Mr. J. Ward, who 

 soon introduced me to the numerous treasures under his ex- 

 tensive charge. 



