24 Garden of C. L. Bell, Esq. 



nifolia ; it formed plenty of seed pods, but the seeds did not 

 ripen. Mr. Bell has potted several large plants and sheltered 

 them in a room this season, with a view of forwarding their 

 blossoming and ripening the seed. If Mr. Bell succeeds, he 

 will be enabled to disseminate this valuable plant to the ex- 

 tent it deserves. The flowers are of the size and shape of 

 Gloxinia formosa, but of a bright yellow color. I have no 

 doubt it will prove in the North a half-hardy shrub, similar 

 to JBTibiscus sinensis. I never saw this plant before, but it 

 may perhaps be known to you. The ik/espilus japonica, 

 grows here in some situations to a magnificent tree, produc- 

 ing bushels of fine fruit. Date palms grow extremely rapid 

 from seed ; there are two large date palms (of about fifty 

 feet high) growing in New Orleans city. It is astonishing 

 they are here not more generally cultivated. 



Mr. Bell has a fine collection of cereuses, epiphyllums, cacti, 

 mammillarias and opuntias. Cereus grandiflora and triangu- 

 laris flower here in great profusion. Mr. Bell is very fond of 

 trying to acclimate many plants, which it is not customary 

 here to leave in the open ground during the winter season. 

 Jasminum sambac fl. pi., Melaleuca alba, Metrosideros lan- 

 ceolata, i^icus elastica, Hoya carnosa, and many others have 

 several years proved perfectly hardy with him, and he is 

 enabled to have some very large specimens of these plants. 

 I have not seen here Strelitzm regina. jBuphorbia splendens 

 or Jacquinajj^ora, which ought to thrive and flower finely 

 here. If you wish for any seeds or plants, indigenous to 

 these parts, it will be a pleasure to me to procure them for 

 you, if I can. By the by, I have just heard that a gentle- 

 man from Mobile, has built a splendid conservatory in Iowa, 

 intending to remove to that place next spring. This is en- 

 couraging news to gardeners and horticulturists. 



Lake Ponchartrain, Dec. 1845. 



Several of our correspondents, in New Orleans, have ex- 

 tolled the beauty of the Jasmines growing there, which they 

 say are entirely unlike any in the North, being as double 

 as roses, and forming bushes, which appear like one sheet 

 of snow. We have the promise of some of the plants of 

 each kind, which we shall endeavor to report upon when we 

 have seen them in bloom. — Ed. 



