Calls at Gardens and Nurseries : 187 



tering, and thus get mixed together. After sowing, press 

 the seeds down gently, to imbed them in the surface, and 

 sprinkle a little white sand over them: not however with a 

 view of covering the seeds, but to make a firmer surface, 

 which future waterings will not so easily disturb, and 

 which will in a great measure prevent dampness. As a 

 further precaution against damp, to which these small 

 seedlings, and many other things, are peculiarly liable on 

 their first appearance, keep a potful of sand on the top of 

 the fireplace, or ov^er a hot pipe or flue, for the next four 

 months ; and as soon as tender seedlings of any sort make 

 their appearance, sprinkle a Utile hot sand in amongst them 

 occasionally whenever they show indications of dampness. 

 I have never known this plan to fail. (Z>. Beatonin Gard. 

 Chronicle, p. 71, 1843.) 



We have now several plants of this elegant annual, 

 about two inches high. We found it rather difficult to 

 get up the seeds. They were sown in February, in a pot, 

 and placed on a shelf in the greenhouse, and the young 

 plants began to rise in about three weeks, and continued 

 coming up for two weeks longer. The plants are now 

 potted off" singly, and are making a fine growth. A portion of 

 them we shall cultivate in pots, and the remainder turn out 

 into the garden. If it comes up to the description given 

 of it in a previous volume, (VIII., p. 15,) we shall give 

 our readers an engraving of the flower. — Ed. 



Art. VI. Calls at Gardens and Nurseries. 



Hawthorn Grove, Col. M. P. Wilder. — A short visit 

 to Mr. Wilder's collection of plants, a few weeks ago, 

 when the camellias were in full bloom, has given us 

 an opportunity to notice some new varieties, of recent in- 

 troduction. A great portion of the foreign camellias lately 

 imported, particularly those from France, have proved en- 

 tirely worthless. There are, however, some few among 

 them which are truly splendid additions to this fine tribe of 

 plants. Among those which we saw at Mr. Wilder's, we 

 may name the Duchess of Orleans, a beautiful striped flow- 



