382 Calls at Gardens and Nurseries. 



general appearance of the lots is exceedingly neat. We shall at a 

 future time speak of some of the particular lots, and of the taste dis- 

 played in their embellishment; at present we have not the opportunity 

 to do so. A judicious thinning of the trees and underwood remains yet 

 to be perfoi'med; but we hope at the end of another season to see many 

 good improvements effected in the grounds. 



Garden of Mr. J. Towne, Snowhill Street. — We have not, for a 

 long time, been so highly pleased as we Avere with a visit which we 

 lately paid to Mr. Towne. His garden limits are confined almost 

 wholly to a small green-house, which he had erected over the back 

 buildings attached to his house, the entrance to which is through the 

 parlor. In this small space Mr. Towne has collected together a great 

 number of plants, of the most beautiful kinds, of heaths, diosmas, and 

 other similar Cape and New Holland shrubs, that we have ever had 

 the pleasure of seeing. The number of species and varieties of heaths 

 or ericas amounts to upwards of fifty, and finer looking or better 

 grown plants, we do not hesitate to say, are not to be found in any 

 other collection in the country. They are one perfect mass of verdure, 

 and the strong and vigorous growth which many of the plants have 

 made the past summer, would astonish any one who is at all acquaint- 

 ed with this tribe, more especially those who have adopted the opinion 

 that our hot sun and drying winds were altogether prejudicial to their 

 cultivation. Some of the most vigorous growths are upwards of 

 twenty inches in length, and not a single yellow or sickly leaf can be 

 seen the whole distance : a few species which experienced English cul- 

 tivators have found difiicult to manage, seem here to flourish without 

 any particular care. 



It has often been said that heaths, as well as most other plants, do 

 better when removed to the open air in the summer season, than when 

 remaining in the green-house : but we feel fully convinced of the un- 

 truth of this statement; and no better proof is wanting than an inspec- 

 tion of Mr. Towne's plants. They now stand where they have stood 

 the whole summer, and those in our own collection, or in any others that 

 we have observed, will not compare with these in the deep green color 

 of their foliage. His plants are not drawn up in the least; but exhibit that 

 stout and luxuriant growth, which it is natural to suppose they possess, 

 when flourishing in their native habitats. That most excellent culti- 

 vator of heaths, Mr. McNab, recommended, in his valuable treatise on 

 this tribe,the importance of keeping the plants in the green-house the year 

 round; and although our climate is so essentially diflferent, the same 

 management should be pursued here. 



Of diosmas there is here several species. Metrosideros semper- 

 florens had expanded a fine blossom. Melaleuca Aypericifolia is com- 

 ing into flower; there are also several other beautiful species in the 

 collection. Tecoma capensis, growing in a pot, has been in bloom all 

 summer. We here saw coming into flower what we supposed to be 

 Portulkca Gilliesii, as Mr. Towne received it from Philadelphia for a 

 new species. It is a very desirable plant. Many new things Mr. 

 Towne pointed out to us, but we have not room to enumerate them; 

 and as we shall undoubtedly have the pleasure of seeing them when in 

 bloom, an account will then be more interesting. Three or four ardis- 

 ias, several cistuses, some leptospermums, acacias, among which is a 

 beautiful plant of Ji. decurrens, brunias, and indeed many quite rare 

 plants, are in this collection, which is one of the richest, according to 

 the size, in our vicinity. Mr. Towne is a great loverof gardenmg, and 

 we wish he had more room to devote to floricultural purposes; as it is, 

 there are few gardens, especially city ones, which afford the pleasure to 

 be derived from an inspection of his. 



