NATURAL HISTORY. 



489 



of the Horticultural Society, but 

 through the medium of extracts in 

 the last Monthly Review (which 

 informed me of its existence), yet, 

 struck withyour" Hints respecting 

 the proper Mode of inuring tender 

 Plants to our Climate," and re- 

 siding in the very warmest part of 

 England (the South Hams of De- 

 vonshire, of which 1 am a native), 

 within view of an inlet of the sea, 

 I am led to state to you some 

 facts, that perhaps may not be 

 wholly unworthj' of notice. 



In October, 1795, a camellia 

 japonica was planted here among 

 other shrubs in the open ground ; 

 it has stood every winter since, 

 without the smallest shelter, thrives 

 well, and has never had a branch 

 or leaf injured by the weather; it 

 is now about four feet high, the 

 size of a gooseberry bush, but has 

 not flowered. 



Two plants of the fuchsiacoccinea 

 •were planted about four years ago 

 under a brick wall facing the south. 

 At first the branches suffered by 

 the frost, but they put forth new 

 shoots in the spring, with much 

 strength, and have flowered well 

 every summer. During the last 

 two years I was absent, but 1 

 understand, that only the extre- 

 mities of the branches were in- 

 jured, and they have alwaysflower- 

 ed in great perfection. 



Some plants of solanum pseudo- 

 capsicum, or amomum Plinii, are 

 also under a brick wall (but not 

 nailed against it), which have stood 

 many years, and only a small part 

 of the very extremities of their 

 branches has been injured by frost. 



Myrtles of every kind (even the 

 double blossomed and orange) do 

 exceedingly well in the open 

 ground, though the silver, frorp 



the richness of the soil, soon be* 

 comes plain. 



The buddlea globosa likewise 

 stands the climate; and some of 

 the plants are ten feet high, spread 

 wide, and make a handsome ap- 

 pearance. One of them is placed 

 in a situation open to the north- 

 east winds, where the sun cannot 

 shine during the short days, yet it 

 has stood there since 1794, and 

 never had more than the extremi- 

 ties of the branches hurt, 



Abouttwomiles frommyhouseis 

 the small seaport town of Salcombe, 

 just between those two well known 

 points, the Prawl and Bolt-head, 

 the latter of which is in the parish 

 whence this letter is written, a 

 plate that the sea washes on three 

 sides. Perhaps of all spots in the 

 British isles, Salcombe is the very 

 first for climate and shelter. The 

 celebrated Doctor Huxham used to 

 call it the Montpellier of Englai.d. 

 In 1774, a large American aloe, 

 only twenty-eight years old, and 

 which had always stood in the 

 open ground, without covering, 

 flowered there ; it grew to the 

 height of twenty-eight feet, the 

 leaves were six inches thick and 

 nine feet in length, and the flowers, 

 on forty-two branches, innumer- 

 able. 



Several plants of the verbena 

 triphylla are growing at Salcombe 

 in the open ground, and are now 

 six feet high. I have not tried 

 any of them myself; but as I 

 expect to be more at home in 

 future, than for some years past, I 

 shall not fail to add this plant to 

 thiise tender shrubs already grow- 

 ing around me. 



Oranges and lemons, trained as 

 peach trees against walls, and 

 sheltered only with mats of straw 



during 



