404 Notes on Gardens and Nurseries. 



treads hard, so that its surface may be easily swept, it has 

 advantages over most other kinds. The mall and walks of 

 Boston Common have all been covered with it at an expense 

 of about fifteen hundred dollars. It is found in Somerville 

 and Medford in considerable quantities. 



Oaklij Place^ Mrs. W. Pratt. — When we were here last, 

 in the fall of 1845, the new greenhouse had just been built 

 and was scarcely completed. Now we found it well stocked 

 with many of the showiest summer flowering plants, and the 

 roof covered with vines, bearing a large and fine crop, 

 though yet very young. The introduction of the new achim- 

 enes, gloxinias, fuchsias, and Japan lilies, enables our gar- 

 deners to make the greenhouse a place of interest in summer 

 as well as in winter; and, when well managed, as attractive 

 as any part of the grounds. 



The whole premises were in fine order, under the care of 

 Mr. McLennan, who is a thorough gardener. In the framing 

 grounds there is a long range of melon pits, which was filled 

 with healthy well grown plants of the Persian and other fine 

 sorts, with an abundance of fruit, some of which was begin- 

 ning to change color. Mr. McLennan grows his melons to 

 great perfection, and we hope to be able to give some account 

 of his system of cultivation. 



The borders of the garden were gay with stocks, sweet 

 peas, balsams, &c. Bignon/a radicans grows finely here, 

 and, trained up to a pole, is a perfect mass of foliage, en- 

 riched with immense clusters of its showy trumpet-shaped 

 blossoms. In winter the shoots are loosened from the pillar, 

 and laid upon the ground with scarcely any covering ; and 

 in this way it is never injured, no matter how severe the 

 weather. B. grandiflora is managed in the same way. 



Passing by some large bushes of the Calycanthus (sweet 

 scented shrub,) we noticed that it was coming into bloom. 

 As this somewhat surprised us, Mr. McLennan stated that he 

 always got a second crop by pinching out the tops of the 

 shoots in July, when laterals would be produced, and an 

 abundance of flowers. He has followed this system for four 

 or five years, and always with the same results. 



Gooseberries succeed finely here with scarcely any trouble ; 

 they are not infested with mildew as in many places, which 



