228 Foreign Mtices. 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The severe weather of January, 1838, has killed or jrreatly injured 

 almost all the hnlf-hanly ligneous plants in the neighborhood of London, 

 The foliage of the trees, on the walls of the Botanic Garden at Kew, 

 and also on those of the Horticultural garden, is quite black; and com- 

 mon lauristinus, the common laurel, the Portugal laurel, the phillyreas, 

 the alatermus, and other such shrubs, are blackened, or killed down to 

 the ground. Even the acaba and erbutus have had their hardy foliage 

 injured; and, in short, so much damage has scarcely been done to ever- 

 green shrubs within the memory of any gardener living. It is interest- 

 ing to observe the different degrees of hardiness in different individuals 

 of the same species, and in the same garden, where the plants have been 

 raised from seed, as in the case of the Portugal laurel, the arbutus, the 

 evergreen oak, the cork-tree, &,c. Some individuals of these species, 

 standing in nursery lines, among others in all respects similarly circum- 

 stanced, are scarcely injured at all; while others are partially blackened, 

 their wood being alive, and some are killed down to the ground. ( Gard. 

 Mag.) 



Kew Gardens. — These old and established gardens, which have been 

 in a rather poor condition for some time, are about to be extensively re- 

 formed. By an order of the Lords of the Treasury, Mr. Paxton, well 

 known as the head gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, and Mr. Wil- 

 son, gardener to the Earl of Surry, have been appointed to report upon 

 the state of these gardens. Hitherto there has been much complaint of 

 the selfish manner in which new and beautiful plants have been with- 

 held from gentlemen and nurserymen, and many have been lost to Eng- 

 land, by their not being in any other collection, and have here been so 

 neglected as to cause their death. Mr. Aiton will probably retain his 

 situation, as he has been found altogether blameless, as regards the con- 

 ducting of the establishment. (Gard. J^Iag.) 



Cdrica Papaya, the papaw tree, of which we gave an engraving at 

 p. 96, has fruited in England, at Ripley castle. A figure, from some 

 of these specimens, will appear in the Gardener's Magazine. The con- 

 ductor recommends it as an object of luxury, and worth cultivating "as 

 one of the very few, which rij)en a handsome edible fruit in the winter 

 season." (Ed.) 



Cultivation of Mignonette. — Mignonette is considered a very simple 

 plant to grow, and so it is in fashion. We generally see it during win- 

 ter; but a celebrated grower of forced flowers for Covent garden, told me, 

 that he had never had but one really good croj) of mignonette, and by 

 it he made a good sum of money. "After four winter's growing with- 

 out the least failure, I consider uiy system established; and by it I have 

 had, without the least variation, forced mignonette in flower by Christ- 

 mas, and as strong as border mignonette. On the 20th of August, I 

 sowed one hundred pots of thirty-two's [No. 3] filled with the follow- 

 ing compost; half sandy loam, the other half made up of leaf mould, 

 and road sand, not sifted, but very dry wh«'n used, and pr< ssed into 

 the pots up to the brim. When the seeds are sown, a little coni[»ost 

 is sifted over them. The pots are then put into a i)it or frame, and set 

 very near the glass. The lights are kept off at all time?, except during 

 rainy weather, when they are always put on; as, above all things, a drop 

 of rain is never allowed to fall upon the pots, for several reasons. The 

 first of them is, because rain is often very heavy, and washes the seed 

 out of the pots; secondly, the rain is often too little, and only moistens 



