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beginning with the lower branches and slowly spreading to the 
top, and lasting in their beauty a long time. The autumnal 
colour of the Tulip tree is almost as beautiful, but with this curious 
difference. As long as the leaves are on the trees they are of a 
fine golden colour ; but as soon as they fall, they at once become 
of a dull ugly brown, whereas the leaves of Salisburia retain their 
colour long after they have fallen, and form a golden carpet under- 
neath the tree, until they are swept away. I grow a good many 
species of vine, and they all showed a wonderful wealth of colour ; 
though their near relation, the Ampelopses, were not by any 
means so brilliant as I have often seen them, and the tints of 
the Parrottia were very poor.* And in connection with the 
autumnal appearance of the garden, it is worth noting that 
many people thought that we should have no autumn flowers 
on account of the early flowering of most of the plants, but 
the alarm was needless. The gardens this autumn were won- 
derfully gay, mine certainly was. Most of this, no doubt, 
was owing to the summer bedders, which this year had in many 
gardens an increased value; but leaving them out of the 
question, and without entering into details I can say that my 
garden in September and October was bright and gay. I rather 
expected to see an abnormal growth of Spring flowers; but it 
really was very little more than in ordinary years ; there were a 
few primroses, as there always are; Triteleia showed a few flowers, 
and some of the Narcissi are showing their leaves well above ground, 
but speaking generally things are not too forward, but are, in 
gardener’s language, in their right place. But I have one 
remarkable exception to this; I have had for many years a good 
plant of the Mandragora autumnalis from S. Italy and Greece. 
When I first had it, it flowered in the Autumn, its normal time 
of flowering, but year by year it altered its time, and for several 
* Since writing this, the first volume of the Index Kewensis has 
been published ; and in it Amfelopszs disappears as a genius, and all 
the species are placed under Vitis. 
