732 GARDEN MANAGEiLENT. 



"few of these do any good. The lilac blooms very scantily, but does well 

 for a screen, as it shows a little green in the summer. The Aucuba japonica 

 answers in sheltered places. The enonymus does very well in smoke, and 

 retains its foliage ; but this year (1860) the severe winter has nearly destroyed 

 it. This shows it is not so hardy as many other shrubs, and requires to be 

 covered with mats on very severe frosty nights. The box, holly, and privet, 

 thrive for two or three years ; rhododendrons flower freely for a season, with 

 plenty of water, all through the summer. The hibiscus rose, or Althaea 

 frutex, grows and flowers remarkably well. The Daphne Mezereum does well, 

 and flowers freely, both white and pink. The dwarf roses, such as Rose de 

 Meaux, Cabbage, Provence, Maiden's blush, York and Lancaster, are now 

 doing tolerably well in these gardens, considering the murky atmosphere they 

 grow in. I tried some dwarf standards, and they more than answered my 

 expectation, as, after planting them in good maiden loam, and attending to 

 their watering, some bloomed all the season. Madame Laffay, Jacques 

 Lafette, Mrs. Eliot, G^ant de Batailles, William Jessey, Due d'Aumale, and 

 sevei-al others, gave great satisfaction ; but, of course, they require attention 

 in taking off" the seed and in watering. It is somethiug to have a rose at 

 all in this smoky town. Those grown as dwarfs on their own stocks do 

 much better than those worked on the briers. The higher they are from 

 the ground, the more smoke they get on the stems ; consequently, dwarf 

 plauts near the ground are best. 



2285. '' As respects forest-trees nothing does so well as the oriental plane, in 

 consequence of its shedding its bark every spring : by so doing, it gets rid of 

 the soot, which sticks to other trees like varnish, and which there is no getting 

 off. You may train it to any habit you please by pruning, and the more 

 confined it is, the better it does. The lime-trees do very badly ; but the elm 

 and thorn tolerably well. The Lombardy poplar is a capital tree for London. 

 Irish ivy does very well where you want to cover a wall. The turf stands 

 smoke as well as anything, and when the situation is open, looks remarkably 

 well. Hundreds of children freak and play, and roll on the turf in the Temple 

 Gardens every summer's evening, and when they are closed for the season, 

 you would think it could never recover ; but in a few weeks, with a little rain 

 and rest, and a slight covering of fine mould, it springs up like a mushroom. 

 Should there be any very bare places, I break it up three inches deep ; sow a 

 little mixed lawn-grass, cover it over, roll it down, and it is up in three weeks 

 if there comes any rain. Under trees, I sow the Paris everlasting rj^e-grass, 

 as that is stronger than the lawn-grass, and does better to trample on. " 



2284. Such is the practice in the Temple Gardens, and every one who 

 wishes to see what can be done in the way of gardening under the most un- 

 toward circumstances of atmosphere, will do well to pay a visit to them. It 

 is strange that those who live in the noble squares, and about the inclosed 

 crescents of our large towns, and especially of our metropolis, should have 

 remaiued so long without profiting by the experience and example of Mr. 

 IBroome. Few places are worse kept than our London squares. Their cold, 



