in the neighborhood of New York and Philadelphia. 205 



bretum purpureum, and Ornithogalum niveum, the latter throwing up 

 dense heads of its snowy flowers ; Francoa sonchiflora, a new Chil- 

 ian annual, though not as handsome as the F. appendiculata, Mr. 

 Buist has fine plants of; it has never flowered in the gardens in our 

 vicinity, the seed having been this year introduced ; Tecoma capen- 

 sis, with its climbing stems, was throwing out its clusters of orange 

 red flowers. In this compartment a small pit was filled with cut- 

 tings of every description ; it was placed on the north side of the 

 stage, partially shaded from the sun, but receiving plenty of light 

 from the glass on the north. 



The third house is mostly filled with Gei-aniums, whicli are ex- 

 ceedingly well grown. Mr. Buist has a very choice collection, 

 which with Mr. Hogg's of New York, may be said to be two of the 

 finest in the country. We observed here the variegated stock, 

 which we have not before seen since the fall of 1830, in the vicinity 

 of N. York ; Mr. Buist thinks it partakes of the variegated charac- 

 ter from old age : although this may be the cause, still we are rather 

 doubtful of the fact, as some of the plants we saw several years 

 since were quite small, and could not have been more than one year 

 old, and we have ourselves grown the various kinds of stocks to a 

 considerable age, and have never had them sport in this manner. 

 CoYYsea. speciosa, with its exquisite tubular shaped corollas, was cov- 

 ered with blossoms ; Fuschia mycrophylla, and some other new spe- 

 cies. In the next compartment, the last but one of the range, are 

 placed Mr. Buist's Camellias ; the collection is very choice, and in- 

 cludes a large number of the finest kinds. We saw here C. gloriosa, 

 Goussonia, dianthiflora, dahhaflora, anemoneflora alba, althaeflora, 

 Rossii, fulgens, compacta, conchiflora, maliflora, Fairlea, &c.,, 

 each with several blossoms fully expanded ; C. Fairlea is a very 

 beautiful kind, the colors being red and white, mottled. Mr. Buist 

 had three or four large plants of the maliflora, one of which had ex- 

 panded twenty flowers ; it was a splendid object ; the blossoms 

 opening at the axils of several of the leaves near the top of each 

 shoot, giving them the appearance of dense spikes ; C. dahliaflorais 

 rather an indifferent variety ; C. conchiflora, though more common 

 than several others, should be in every collection. There was a 

 number of other fine varieties in full bud. We have mentioned be- 

 fore his practice of whitewashing the glass in this compartment, to 

 prevent the hot rays of the sun from scorching and burning the leaves. 

 A fine specimen of Rhododendron arboreum hybridum had expand- 

 ed six or eight heads of its gorgeous flowers. What an imposing 

 spectacle would a house present, filled with the different species and 

 varieties of Camellias and Rhododendrons, including the true R. ar- 

 boreum, when in full flower ? It would be the very acme of flori- 

 cultural splendor. We hope that something of this kind will be 

 attempted in our vicinity ; for certainly the means or taste cannot be 

 wanting to accomplish the object. 



