1S37] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



503 



greatly facilitate garJeners in visiting one another; 

 anil would enable many, who now seliinni leave 

 their own neighhorUooil, or see only those gar- 

 dens, which they can approach by stage-coaches, 

 to inspect the principal gardens throuixhout the 

 connlry. This they cannot do by travelling by 

 stage-coaches alone, because many ol' the first- 

 rale .'gardens are situated at a distance (too far for 

 walking) from the main roads. We have often 

 had occasion to regret the loss which fijreign gar- 

 deners who have come over to this country solely 

 for the purpose of visiting our gardens, have sus- 

 tained Irom this circun. stance; it being a well- 

 known fact that a person ma}' be conveyed fifty 

 miles on a stage-coach along a main road, for 

 less than he can go five miles in a post-chase, or 

 in a gig, on a cross road. Another improvement, 

 which would greatly facilitate the travelling of the 

 working classes, including both artizans and ar- 

 tists, would be the removal of all turnpike-gates, 

 and the taking off' the present heavy tax on stage- 

 coaches and gigs, and on horses drawing in them. 

 Slaije-coaches and gigs are the carriages of the 

 middle and working classes ; and by means of 

 them nearly all the important business of the 

 counrry is transacted. Let the taxes, therefore, 

 be removed from them, and placed on the post- 

 chaises, and other carriages of the wealthy. An- 

 other improvement which we should like to see 

 take place, is the increased stability of every de- 

 scription of public carriages by widening them, 

 and allowing no luggage whatever to be placed 

 on the roof, or even above the level of the axle- 

 tree. There ought, also, to be a law to regulate 

 the number of outside passengers, the rate of 

 driving, and the length of stages, so as to lessen 

 the great number of coach accidents which annu- 

 ally occur. (See an excellent article on this sub- 

 ject in the 'Scotsman,'' October 12, 1836.) 



Gardening and rural improvement in foreign 

 countries. 



In France, in the 'Jardin des Plantes,' a new 

 palm-house has been completed, and the hot- 

 houses in that establishment generally have been 

 altered and improved. The new variety of mul- 

 berry, moras multicaulis (see ^jtrboretum et Fru- 

 ticetum Britannicum,'' art. morus') has been late- 

 ly extensively propagated by the nurserymen, 

 both for planting in France, and for exportation to 

 America and other countries. The maclura has 

 ripened fruit at Lyons and Marseilles; and the 

 leaves have been employed to feed the silk-worm 

 in the latter place. Young plants of the Salisbu- 

 ria have been raised from liuit produced in the 

 neighborhood of Monlpelier. All these facts will 

 be found in detail, at more length, in their appro- 

 priate departments in this Magazine. (See 'Fo- 

 reign Notices,' in the tar^le of contents.) 



Holland, in consequence of the increased com- 

 merce in bulbus roots, and the quantity of mel- 

 ons, grapes, and other fruit grown in that coun- 

 try, and sent annually to the London and Brighton 

 markets, may, we conclude, be considered as pros- 

 pering in a gardening point of view. The cele- 

 brated Botanic garden at Leyden, is still carefully 

 kept up, as appears by Professor Reinvvardt's let- 

 ter, in a future page. 



In Belgium, we understand, few horticultural 

 improvements are goincr forward; and we refrret 

 much to learn that the botanical and horticultural 



garden at Brussels, is slill suffering from want 

 of lands. Gardening seems rather in a more pros- 

 perous state in the neiixhhorhnod of Ghent, where 

 our correspondent, Mr. Maddison, inlbrms us, a 

 hall for horticultural exhihilions has been erected. 

 A valuable communication liom Mr. Maddison, 

 on this subject, will appear in our succeeding vol- 

 ume. 



Germany. — A uumher of plants, new to the 

 irardens of Vienna, have been sent thither from 

 Swan river, and from the south coast of New Hol- 

 land, by Baron Hiigel. just returned from a sci- 

 enlific voyage to the East Indies and New Hol- 

 land; and Prince Metternich's gardener has, also, 

 introduced several new species, which he carried 

 with him from England. (See 'Otto's Garten- 

 Zeitung,^ vol. iv. p. 199.) The grand centre of 

 landscape-gardening and architectural improve- 

 ments, in Germany, continues to be Munich, 

 where the Enolish garden has recently under- 

 gone various changes, and an Ionic temple has 

 been raised on the summit of an artificial moutit, 

 and finished interiorly with polychromic, or many 

 colored, paintings. This new and singular mode 

 of interior finishing is at present engaging the at- 

 tention of architects throughout Europe. It seems 

 a revival of an art practised by the ancient Greeks 

 on, and within their temples, and continued 

 through the dark ages, by painting the ceilings of 

 cathedrals andjchurches with blue, and varying the 

 surlace with golden stars, the sun, moon, and other 

 figures, and also by the stained glass of church 

 windows, and the illuminated missalsof the church. 

 A detailed account of the process will be found in 

 the ' Foreign Quarterly Review,'' for October, 

 1836; in the 'IVansaciions of the Institution of 

 British jlrchitects,'' vol. i.; and in the 'jlrchitec- 

 tural Blagazine,'' vol. iv. A splendid new coun- 

 try house has been built by W. Von Marenholtz, 

 at Wilhemsburg, near Brunswick (see '■/Irchi^ 

 tectural Magazine,'' vol. iii.); but we have heard 

 nothing respecting its gardens. 



The botanical sjarden at Berlin is acknowledged 

 to be the first in Germany. A correspondent (ap- 

 parently G. Bentham, esq., secretary to the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society) of the ' Companion to- 

 the Botanical Magazine,'' writing, in August last, 

 says of this garden, that it is, he believes, "still 

 the most important in Germany in the number of 

 species, trees excepted, in which respect the Vien- 

 na garden excels." "Californian plants," he 

 adds, "thrive remarkably well in it." Speaking 

 of ihe Hamburgh botanic garden, the same wri- 

 ter observes, that, "in r»ointof situation, it is, next 

 to Edinburgh, the most heautitLil one I know. It 

 occupies about sixty EnL^lish acres, of which the 

 greater part is on the old outer ramparts of the 

 town, planted with a good deal of taste. The 

 old town ditch is here broad, and the water clear. 

 The walks and plantations cotue down to the wa- 

 ter's edge; and on the opposite side, the bank ia 

 laid out as a promenade, wiih flower-beds, shrubs, 

 and plantations that conceal all the town, except 

 the end of a very handsome new street, which, 

 from several parts of the trarden, looks like a fine 

 chateau in an extensive park. The whole cir- 

 cuit of the ancient rampart of Hambugh is, in the 

 same manner, converted into promenades, full of 

 flower-beds and of flowerinij shrubs, neatly kept, 

 and perfectly open to the high road; which has a 

 beautiful effect, especially near the large lake call- 



