GARDENING FOR CITIES. 213 



GARDENIA. 



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 Althaa 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 Meux, 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 expecta- 

 tion, as, after planting them in good maiden 

 loam, and attending to their watering, some 

 bloomed all the season. Madame Laffay, 

 Jacques Lafette, Mrs. Eliot, Geant de 

 Batailles, William Jessey, Due d'Aumale, 

 and several others, gave great satisfaction ; 

 but, of course, they require attention in 

 taking off the seed and in watering. It 

 is something 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 briars. The higher they 

 are from the ground, the more smoke they 

 get on the stems ; consequently, dwarf 

 plants near the ground are best. 



"As respects forest-trees nothing does 

 so well as the oriental plane, in conse- 

 quence 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 remark- 

 ably well. Hundreds of children treak 



and play and roll on the turt 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 an 

 rain. Under trees, I sow the Paris ever- 

 lasting rye-grass, as that is stronger than 

 the lawn-grass, and does better to trample 

 on." 



Such is the practice in the Temple Gar 

 dens, and every one who wishes to see 

 what can be done in the way of gardening 

 under the most untoward circumstances of 

 atmosphere will do well to pay a visit to 

 them. 



In the foregoing remarks the necessity 

 of well watering has been insisted on, and 

 it must be remembered that deep digging 

 and plentiful manuring are not less essential 

 in the sooty atmosphere of crowded towns. 

 Every year the collected surface-soot should 

 be buried by trenching about 18 inches 

 deep, and a good dressing of manure bt 

 worked in to renovate the soil. 



Gardenia (nat. ord. Rubia'cese). 



A genus of beautiful evergreen shrubs, 

 suitable for the hothour.e or greenhouse, 

 remarkable for their beautiful while sweet- 

 scented flowers which are now much utilised 

 as cut flowers. These plants require much 

 heat and plenty of water when growing 

 and coming into flower. Propagation is 

 effected by cuttings, or rather shoots 

 stripped from the plant with a heel, set in 

 sandy peat well drained, and placed in a 

 propagating frame with a bottom heat 

 >etween 70 and 80. The best knowr, 

 are Gardenia florida, also called Cape Jes 

 samine, and G. radicans. 



