186 



Domestic Notices : — Eii^tand. 



forming a terminus, on the western side, to the Royal Victoria Park. The 

 piece of land to which we allude was, until recently, a part of the nursery 

 ground in the occupation of ]VL'. CoUens. In selecting this locality for the 

 proposed botanical garden, the committee have kept steadily in view the 

 securing of a site combining a contiguity to the city, the advantages of fine 

 air, a soutliern aspect, excellent soil, and an admirable approach. {Bath Gaz., 

 Jan. 1837.) 



Clapham Common made a public Pleasiire-Groiuid and Arboretum. — Some 

 of the gentlemen resident in the neighbourhood of this common have taken a 

 lease of it from the lord of the manor, at a small rent, for the purpose 

 of preventing the surface of the common from being disfigured by holes 

 dug for gravel, and by the cutting and removal of turf for the nursery- 

 men. Shoidd the lessees be properly supported by the contributions of the 

 inhabitants, they intend to improve the common, and render this already 

 beautiful spot still more interesting and attractive. An anonymous corre- 

 spondent suggests that one of the simplest and most effective modes of im- 

 provement would be to pare and burn the surface, manure it well, and lay it 

 down with artificial grasses, in the same manner as was done with Hyde Park 

 some years ago. After this it could be planted with the hardiest of the hardy, 

 low, and middle-sized trees ; and these being properly fenced, the grass might 

 be kept short by sheep, and thus the improvement made, in a great measure, 

 to pay the costs. We have seldom heard of a more desirable improvement ; 

 and the gentlemen who have taken on themselves the risk of becoming lessees 

 are entitled to the ample support of all their neighbours, and to the thanks of 

 them and of the public generally. — Cond. 



List of Pines and other Conifercs in Boy ton House Garden. — Pinus Banks/awrt, 

 4 ft. high ; P. ^ahmiana, 2 it. high ; P. Smithw ; P. palustris ; P. Pallasi«?ja, 

 70 ft. high; P. ponderosa, 2 ft. high ; P. patula, 6 ft. high ; P. Laricio, 30 ft. 

 high ; P. pumilio, from 30 ft. to 33 ft. high ; 

 P. bruttia ; P. Cembra, 4 ft. high ; P. cana- 

 riensis ; a species from Timor, 25 years old, 

 and IG ft. high, very distinct from any Pinus 

 hitherto described j P. (J'bies) Wehhidna, 

 4 ft. high ; Araucdria Cunningham?, 10 ft. 

 high; /L imbricata, quite hardy; J. excelsa, 

 1 2 ft. hii^h ; t'edrus Dcoddra, 3 ft. high, much 

 branched, raised from the first seeds that 

 were sent to England ; Udmmara australis, 

 4 ft. high ; J^uniperus recurva ; C'upressus 

 torulosa. Besides the above, I have raised, 

 this year, some good plants of that curious 

 herbaceous perennial, Gunde/ia Tournefortw, 

 [Compositaj. See fig. 12787. of p. 747. otEnct/c. 

 of Plants, and ^g. 71.], which has been lost 

 to this country since Miller's time ; and I have four plants of ^'iaeagnus orien- 

 talis, 30 ft. high, raised from Persian seeds. — A. B. Lambert. Bot/ton House, 

 Oct. 1. 1836. 



A large Fig Tree in Jersey. — I have just received from Jersey the dimen- 

 sions of a fig tree which attracted my notice when there. It is reported to be 

 the largest in the island, though it by no means ranks with an enormous one 

 in Guernsey, mentioned by one of your correspondents. That tree, I believe, 

 was a standard, whereas this was originally trained against a wall. The fol- 

 lowing are its dimensions : — Height, 2.5 ft. ; horizontal extent, 63 ft. ; circum- 

 ference of trunk, 3 ft, : age twenty years. Perhaps it is more remarkable for 

 having attained such a size in so comparatively short a period, than for its 

 actual dimensions. Rather a curious circumstance connected with it, is the 

 fact of a dog, which was chained at the foot of it, acquiring the habit of eat- 

 ing the figs as they dropped. So decided was his taste for them, that, when- 

 ever he was let loose, he climbed a ladder (placed for the convenience of 



