andofHural Imj)rovement generally, during 1838. 563 



in a most unfavourable situation. Mr. Nesfield's visit to Allan- 

 ton (p. \S.) will be read with interest by the admirers of the late 

 Sir Henry Steuart; as will the notice of the gardens of Norman 

 M'Leod, Esq., in Morayshire, by those who delight in seeing 

 the luxuries of gardeninn; extendins; in all directions. The state 

 of gardening in the south of Ireland (p. QB.) affords but a me- 

 lancholy picture of that country ; but we may be allowed to 

 hope, that, from the extraordinary attention now paid by govern- 

 ment to that part of the empire, improvement will at no distant 

 time become obvious throughout the country. Dr. Lippold's 

 account of the principal villa of this Island of Madeira is inter- 

 esting, as giving some idea, to a person who has never been out 

 of Britain, of terrace culture, combined with irrigation ; and also 

 as showing the thriving state of the trees of Australia, and those 

 of most other warm countries, in the fine climate of Madeira. 

 Among other notices of foreign villas, we must not omit to call 

 attention to that of the garden of M. Rosenblad in Stockholm 

 (p. 199.) ; to a visit to Hammerby, the country seat of Linnaeus 

 (p. 98.) ; to the state of gardening in the United States (p. 97.); 

 and to the account of the Pennsylvanian horticultural exhibition 

 (p. 188.). An account of the state of gardening and planting in 

 Greece, which we have recently received from M. A. Baumann of 

 Bollwyller, from the nurseries at which place many trees and 

 shrubs have been supplied to the government of King Otho, is 

 necessarily deferred to our next volume. 



The Scicjice of Gardening. — Nothing, as far as we are aware, 

 has been added to what was previously known on this subject; 

 but some useful articles on different points will be found in this 

 Magazine, and also in Paxton's Magazine of Botany. 



Among the articles in our own volume, we may refer to that 

 on the germination of seeds (p. T^.) as highly instructive ; and we 

 much wish that the writer would favour us with some further 

 communications on the same subject. Mr. Niven's experiments 

 (p. 161.) and Mr. Munro's conjectures (p. 118.) also deserve at- 

 tention. In Vayiion's Magaziiie of Botany, a work which has 

 greatly improved both in its plates and letterpress during the last 

 three months, there is a series of articles on the influence of 

 hght on plants. In the first article (vol. v. p. 110.), it is argued 

 that it is not sufficient to ascertain the soil and temperature 

 in which plants are found growing in a wild state; but that the 

 other circumstances of the climate in which they are found are 

 often of nearly as great importance as the soil and temperature. 

 "The gardener or amateur," says the writer, "naturally enquires 

 whether the new plants which have been sent him were collected 

 in tropical, temperate, or cold regions, in order that he may de- 

 termine whether they should be placed in the stove, the green- 

 house, or the open ground ; but he forgets to seek information 



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