Revieio of Loudon^ s Gardener'' s Magazine. 299 



folia, and glauca, azaleas, rhododendrons, &c. ; but it is stated 

 they are not sold so cheap as in England. 



In the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, Madura aurantiaca was 

 bearing fruit. The original plant of .^'sculus rubicunda, raised 

 there by Michaux, in 1812, is now a fine specimen. Two new 

 iron palm-houses were [1835] being erected, which, it is sup- 

 posed, will surpass any thing of the kind ever yet built ; they are 

 the boast of the Parisians. Iron curtains are attached to most of 

 the green-houses in France, to protect them from hailstorms, 

 which are very prevalent on the continent, as will be seen in 

 another page of the present number. 



The following remarks allude to the purple laburnum, of which 

 much has been said in England, and much imposition, we beheve, 

 carried on in the sale of the plants. 



" The purple laburnum, of which so much has been said lately, was 

 growing here in great perfection. It came accidentally from seed 

 among some common laburnums, in 1828, in the nursery of M. Adam, 

 whence its name of Cy'tisus Adamn in some catalogues. A fine plant 

 was shown me by M. Camuset, which appeared to be half Cy'tisus 

 purpureus, and the remainder purple laburnum. On examination, the 

 curious fact was ascertained, that the purple laburnum, which is evi- 

 dently a hybrid between C. purpureus and C. Laburnum, had partially 

 returned to the habits of one of its parents, the C. purpureus. This is 

 surely a most unusual occurrence. Here was no trickery of grafting 

 practised ; for I saw nearly a similar effect produced, in Jan. of the 

 present year (1836), on a tree which I had sent to the Hon. C. Herbert 

 of Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, in 1834, which presented precisely the 

 same appearance. At the extreme end of one of its shoots there came 

 forth a branch of the pure Cy'tisus purpilreus, with its small leaves and 

 peculiar habit, appearing as if budded on the purple laburnum. Have 

 you, in your long experience, ever seen any fact approaching to this, 

 viz. of a tree returning from hybridisation to the state of one of its 

 parents ?" 



Among the French gardeners, the practice is adopted of sur- 

 face manuring the soil, and, more particularly, roses : the impor- 

 tance of this system may be seen from the following observa- 

 tions : — 



" During this last dry summer, when they constantly required water, 

 without this, the surface of the ground would have been regularly 

 baked and impervious ; with it, the water poured down did not rapidly 

 evaporate, but carried to the fibres a constant supply of nutriment from 

 the mature. What an excellent hint does this give to planters on poor, 

 stony., sandy, or chalky districts in this country ! On such soils all the 

 manure should be put on the surface, and left for the worms and the 

 rain to force it in. In the private garden attached to the Luxembourg 

 Palace, and open to members of the French Chambers only, are some 

 of the finest rose trees in the world, apparently of great age (I regret 

 not ascertaining this more correetly), and in vigorous health. Many 

 of the stems of the standard roses in this garden are as thick as a stout 

 man's leg. They are not budded on tall stems, their average height 

 being, perhaps, from four to five feet ; and they support themselves 

 without stakes. Though so old and so large, they have regular annua] 



