252 Horticidhiral Societi/ mid Garden. 



parts of the garden without a specific reason. It is truly lamentable to see 

 thirty acres of admirable soil, and with a surface, exposure, and locality so 

 well suited for the purposes of a scientific horticultural garden, frittered 

 away to insignificant parts, by walks and hedges, which not only waste 

 space, but greatly increase the labour of keeping, and totally destroy 

 character. 



We hope this garden will prove a useful example to other Societies which 

 have not yet laid out theirs, and induce them not to be guided by any 

 individual, however zealous he maybe; but, as is generally done in the 

 case of public buildinjjs, to call in the aid of public competition. 



In other respects, the (Jhiswick garden is very much to our satisfaction, 

 and various parts of it are at this season exceedingly interesthig. A few 

 sorts of pears, and a good many kinds of apples, still remain in good pre- 

 servation on the shelves of the fruit-room ; and, packed in jars of dried 

 sand and in baskets of dried fern, there are several varieties of both fruits, 

 which will keep till pears come again. Mr. Thompson seems to find sand 

 the best medium for preserving plumpness, but rather injurious to the fla- 

 vour ; and dried fern the best medium for i)reserving plumpness and flavour 

 at the same time, in apples and pears ; dried sand is probably preferable for 

 plums and grapes. 



Eighty-eight sorts of crocuses are now in bloom in the flower depart- 

 ment, and form a most agreeable sight. We observed some fine specimens 

 of that rare and beautiful bulb, Galiinthiis plicaius, which is to the com- 

 mon snowdrop what the giant ivy is to the common ivy. This spring 

 flower, and Bulbocodium vernum, ieucojum vernum, and iS'cilla sibirica, 

 bifolia, and verna, all neat little bulbs now in bloom, well deserve a place 

 in every garden which is to be seen in the spring months. The great 

 object, in all gardens belonging to residences occupied by the family all the 

 year, is to have abundance of flowers for spring and autumn, and a good 

 stock of green-house plants which flower in the winter. 



The tropical plants in the houses look remarkably well, and those with 

 coloured leaves, such as Justic/a picta, Eranthemum bicolor, Croton 

 picta and variegata, Calddium bicolor, Dracas^na terminalis, Ruelh'« 

 Sabini«?zfl', &c., at this season, when there are few plants in flower, have 

 a gay appearance. Ruelh'« cilitita, Streptocarpus IlexH which blooms all 

 the year, with some Orchideas and Amaryllidt'<2?, are in bloom. 



In the peach house the trees are in bloom, and we observed a sort of 

 spatula or flap of deal board about 18 in. long and 9 in. broad, for beating 

 the air of the house, so as to set it in motion, and disperse the farina of 

 the blossoms. It would be an easy matter to render this operation very 

 complete, by having several flaps susj)ended from the roof, say one under 

 every other rafter, and moving the whole at once by a connecting rod of 

 wire; or by hazel or willow rods. Any gardener might construct such 

 a machine for himself. 



The half-hardy articles which were matted have stood the winter 

 remarkably well. Chimonanthus fragrans is still covered with blossoms 

 which have not lost their fragrance ; and those of C. f. grandiflorus are 

 large and handsome, a circumstance which strongly recommends this 

 variety. Wistar/« Consequawr/, one of the shoots of which, made the year 

 before last, measures 60 ft. long, shows abundance of blossoms over a 

 surface of about 2oO square feet of walling. Some of the clumps in the 

 arboretum have been obliterated, and the space they occupied levelled and 

 trodden down so as to be as solid as the adjoining turf; and these are 

 what is called grafted with the turf; or, in other words, set with patches 

 of turf about the size of the haml, j^laced about 9 in. apart every way. 

 This practice, which was recently brought into notice in Norfolk, has long 

 l)een known among gai'deners ; and it has the advantage, in cases such as 

 that before us, of not forming distinct patches of green. The turf being 



