118 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
__ [Fes. 95, 
Holme Gardens, Inverness, a specimen was planted out in 
the summer of 1840,in a dry part of the garden. It bloomed 
beautifully until November, when it was cut down, close 
to the ground, and covered to the depth of eight inches 
f. Id in 1) 
item, leaving little or nothing for the purchase of new 
plants. Yet, go into them when you will—spring, sum- 
mer, or autumn—they always look gay; a continual suc- 
cession of delicious perfumes or beautiful colours are ever 
tting for dmirati French artists, in what- 
with leaf-mould. On removing the | i e 
following summer, the root was found to be completely 
rotten. Ihave known many more perish in the same 
way, but I cannot pledge myself that they were planted in 
such favourable situations as the former.— William 
Proctor, Gardener to J. H. M‘Kenzie, Esg., Tarbat 
House, Rosshire. 
Thawing Plants.—My greenhouse, like that of many 
other persons, was exposed to the severity of the unex- 
pected frost on the night of Feb. 3rd, wi hout any injury 
being sustained by the plants, which consisted of hard as 
well as soft-wooded things, but chiefly of Pelargoniums. 
On the morning of the 4th, the temperature of the house 
was raised as quickly as possible to between 50° and 60°; 
the plants were copiously syringed and well steamed ; the 
sun was allowed to shine upon them, and air was admitted 
at ten o’clock. It will be seen that my modus operandi 
differs very materially from that recommended by Mr, 
Ayres, at p.$4.—J. Doran, Lavender Hill. [Mr. Ayres’ 
irections are, in our opinion, correct ; and the practice 
of our correspondent wrong. Mr. Ayres speaks of frozen 
plants; it does not appear that Mr. Doran’s have been 
frozen at all. 
Heavy Pine-Apple.—I have often seen in the Chronicle 
accounts of heavy Pine-Apples, not one of which has, I 
believe, exceeded a fruit grown 9 or 10 years ago at Wal- 
lington Hall, in Northumberland, by Mr. Robert Elliott, 
the then gardener. The Pine was a Providence, and the 
fruit when cut weighed 114 lbs. avoirdupois.—G. G. 
Watson, Vicarage, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees. 
Varnish for Cotton Frames.—Amongst the miscel- 
laneous articles at p. 55, there is one headed a ‘‘ Sub- 
stitute for Glazed Frames in Hotbeds.’’ Will the author 
have the kindness to explain to me how the proportions of 
cheese, lime, oil, and eggs, can form transparent varnish ? 
—of what use is cheese ? I have used a light cotton frame 
this winter with great success, but the cotton has only been 
soaked with linseed oil. As this is an economical mode of 
making useful frames, I should feel obliged for informa- 
tion as to the best varnish to use. TI should like to know 
whether the article sold under the name of gelatine would 
mix with oil; and whether a small portion of corrosive 
sublimate would prevent the attacks of the black fungus, 
which troubled my cotton last autumn ?—Xylinus.— 
[Corrosive sublimate will prevent the attack of fungi, and 
vot the canvas.] 
To Destroy Slugs.—I informed you, p. 653, of 1842, of 
the method which I had adopted for destroying slugs by 
placing traps (Savoy leaves) about my garden, and I stated 
that I had killed 36,000 in a few months; 1 likewise 
said that I had used lime, lime-water, and salt, to little 
purpose. The result of my adopted plan this year has 
given me only about 3,000, and I am persuaded that by a 
strict attention to it, I shall eventually annihilate the 
breed.—Cestus. 
Musty Hay.—Will you haye the goodness to give me 
our opinion on a practice which is becoming very pre- 
yalent in this neighbourhood? Every one is aware that 
eattle will not eat mouldy hay, and if they would, that 
it would be very injurious tothem. It is customary here 
tocutsuch hay into chaff, and then to steam it; after 
which process the cattle eat it greedily, and appear to 
thrive upon it. Will you say how it is that the steam 
thus renovates it? and will you tell me if, after it has 
undergone this process, it is as wholesome and nutritious 
natugal 
there it is nearly infallible. you cook vege- 
tables they lose some of their peculiar qualities, and in 
general are improved. Musty hay is rejected by cattle, 
poth on account of the smell and the taste; but when it 
hhas been thrashed, so as to drive off the musty fungus, or 
washed in water, they no longer refuse it. It is, o' 
course, not so nourishing as good hay ; but there is no 
reason to think that it is injurious. A very little atten- 
tion to the quantity eaten and the subsequent condition 
of the cattle will settle the question.—M. 
The Owl.—The owlis one of the gardeners and foresters’ 
best friends, annually ridding them of legions of their 
foes; but notwithstanding his valuable services we too 
frequently see him heedlessly destroyed. In some parts 
of Europe, however, this most sensible bird is kept in 
families, like a cat, whom he equals in patience, and (if 
possible) surpasses in alertness. It is a well-known fact 
that wherever the barn-owl has been killed off, or very few 
left, field-mice have increased enormously, and they, in 
their hunger, do peel, and of course destroy, the young 
Hollies and other trees in new plantations.—C. K. 
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 
Paris.—The royal parks and gardens of France are 
large and numerous; those of Neuilly, Mendon, and Eu, 
are the King’s own property; Chantilly belongs to the 
Due @’Aumale; and the Tuilleries, Luxembourg, Ver- 
sailles, Trianons, St. Cloud, Fontainbleau, Sevres, and 
Lompieene, to the State. The expense of keeping those 
ee meutioned in anything like decent order is very con- 
aud erable ; indeed, the whole, or nearly all the money 
allowed for their maintenance, is expended in this one 
our 
ever department, fine arts, beaw monde, or flowers, are 
justly celebrated for beauty of design and exquisite taste in 
the arrangement of colours ; the latter point is not, I 
believe, so well understood on the other side of the 
Channel. It is no uncommon thing to hear English 
Jadies, when visiting Paris, pluining of some fashionabl 
modisle, who has positively objected to some favourite 
colour ina bonnet or other article of dress, simply because 
it was not in harmony with their complexion.. The same 
attention is given to grouping flowers, whether natural or 
artificial; in fact, a good gardener is as much known by 
his skill in arrangement as by the health and vigour of his 
plants. Another thing observable in these gardens, is, 
that herbaceous plants, as well as annuals, are grown in 
masses. Who can enter the English garden of the unfor- 
tunate Marie Antoinette (now called the King’s Garden), 
in the park of Versailles, and not stop on the threshold 
to gaze with delight on the harmonious coup d'il before 
him? and yet this is entirely attributable to a just know. 
ledge of colours for scene effect. Let him examine the 
objects of {this earthly Elysium—what does he find? 
absolutely nothing but groups of the most common kinds 
of Petunias, Verbenas, Pansies, Asters, Roses, and Lark- 
spurs, and the gay scarlet flowers among the tall shrubs 
to be the very oldest Pelargoniums, It is not, therefore, 
their individual beauty,—for these varieties have long since 
given place to improved ones in Amateurs’ gardens,—but 
the excellent taste in arrangement, which renders this spot 
so enchanting. But some one will naturally say, how can 
all this be done without money to purchase plants? The 
difficulty was foreseen by Louis XIV. and his Ministers, 
and has been provided for by the formation of three dis- 
tinctroyal horticultural establish mentsat Sevres, Versailles, 
and Trianons. The first supplies the King’s palaces with 
flowers, the second with fruit and vegetables, and the last 
the parks and gardens of the state with trees and shrubs. 
The whole is under the direction of M. Massey, whose 
uniform kindness to foreigners desirous of seeing either 
the nursery, orchard, forcing or floricultural departments, 
is proverbial. The nursery of the Trianons is solely for 
forest and fruit-trees, hardy flowering shrubs, and a few 
Chinese, Cape, and New Holland plants for the conserva- 
tory. All these are propagated in sufficient number to 
answer the demand, which is presumed to be about 20,000 
annually. Rhododendrons, Kalmias, Azaleas, Andromedas, 
aud other American border plants, are growing here in 
luxuriant vigour, and the whole reflects the highest credit 
on M. Breot, the chief gardener. One of the principal 
i in thi blist ¢ last summer was a splen- 
did plantation of nearly 1,000 plants of Paulévnia imperi- 
alis, varying from 4 to 14 feet high, on one of which I 
measured a leaf 3 feet long. There is also a noble 3-year 
old tree, about 30 feet high, which has not, however, yet 
shown any signs of bloom. The floricultural department 
is at Sevres, in a most unpropitious situation, abutting on 
the high road to Paris, the dust of which, in summer, is 
sometimes as palpably thick as a November fog in London. 
This, unfortunately, is not the only evil: the soil is of a 
burning arid nature, and, moreover, exposed to the mid- 
day sun, without one particle of shade, The hot and 
greenhouses are in a bad condition, and quite unworthy 
of such a country as France: the wonder is that M. Gon- 
douin, the superintendent, can produce the immense 
number of plants and bouquets which are required for the 
Tuilleries and St. Cloud, amounting to between 15,000 
and 20,000 a year; and as the Court reside there nearly 
six months out of the twelve, the daily supply is from 50 
to 70 large bouquets for vases, about the same number of 
small ones, beside a continual succession of plants in pots. 
These are indispensable requisites in every Parisian society, 
from the saloons of the Tuilleries to the miserable attic of 
the grisette of the faubourg St.Antoine. To accomplish this 
M. Gondouin forces from 2,000 to 3,000 Lilacs, the same 
number of Tulips, Hyacinths, or other bulbs, large quan- 
tities of Roses (chiefly Rose du Roi), Jasmines, Azaleas, 
Mimosas, Ericas, Epacrises, Diosmas, Gloxinias, Primulas, 
Fuchsias, Verbenas, Chrysanthemums, and a yariety of 
other showy things. It was in this garden that the Rose 
du Roi was obtained, and the original plant is still in a 
healthy state. I have often heard M. Gondouin speculate 
upon what his fortune would have been had he received 
but 10 sous for each plant that has been sold since he first 
gratuitously distributed it; certainly no Rose ever had so 
large a sale, or was so worthy of it. The Potager of Ver- 
gailles is another, and, by a vast majority of Frenchmen, 
considered the most important of these establishments. 
The houses and forcing-pits are not only numerous, but 
well stocked with every kind of fruitin sufficient number 
to satisfy the most fastidious connoisseur of comestibles. 
I have before given you (p. 150, 1841) the number of 
fruiting Pines ; every thing else is upon the same extensive 
scale. Unfortunately the outside of the buildings is not 
in keeping with the dainties within; most of them (at 
least to an Englishman) have an unsightly appearance, for 
want of paint, which, no doubt, is attributable to the very 
inadequate sum allowed for their support. ut malgré 
every drawback, the Potager is worthy ofits fame, whether 
you consider the quantity of fruit produced or the .indivi~ 
dual fineness of the specimens. M. Massey is not piassed 
by any of those narrow prejudices of time and country 
which unfortunately affect so great a portion of the horti- 
culturists of France : he does not fail to adopt any im- 
proved system that may come under his observation. The 
improvement in the culture of the Pine-apple, at least so 
far as open frame culture is concerned, is due to him and 
his chief gardener, M. Grisard: the utility of this plan is 
generally ac’ ledged, and almos i lly followed 
in this country; no doubt it will ere long be as exten- 
sively practised elsewhere. Mr. Edwards, from the gardens 
of Chatsworth, is now in the pinery of Versailles for the 
express purpose (as I have been informed) of making 
himself fully acquainted with the French treatment, pre- 
viously to its introduction in the gardens of the Duke of 
Devonshire. The ground occupied by these three 
establishments is upwards of 100 acres; and from them 
are obtained those delicacies and floral beauties which 
alike charm the inmates of the palace and the promenader 
of the gardens of the Tuilleries, Versailles, or St. Cloud. 
NOTICES or NEW PLANTS WHICH ARE EITHER 
USEFUL OR ORNAMENTAL. 
NDRGBIUM SANGUINOLENTUM. Blood-stained Dendrobium, 
Orchiddcese § Malaxese. Gyndndria Monan- 
dria.—Probably there is no plant among all the species of Den- 
ich i elicately 
yellow. In this plant, however, the combination occurs, pro- 
ducing a very gay and unexpected effect. f 
Ceylon to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, by Mr. Night- 
D 
in perfection. The leav 
being sinuated and bordered with red. wers are bright 
scarlet, exceedingly beautiful.—Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. 
s. Paraguay Tree. (Greenhouse Shrub). 
2 
an equally large portion of the inhabitants of South America as 
the T i 
within these few years 
botanists. A speci 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Feb, 21,—R. W. Barchard, Esq., in the chaii 
W. Broadhurst, K. Lewis, and 
Fellows. 
M. W. Attwood, 
J. Luscombe, Esqrs., were elected 
h 
markably well- grown specimens of Epacris nivalis, impressa, and 
a hybrid bearing considerable resemblance to E. variabilis ; 
r) 
lilac flowers; E. Lambértia résea, a free-blooming flesh-coloured 
variety ; Mirbélia floribunda, interesting on account of its deep 
dark-brown _ flowers, and Ceeld; 
From Mr, Appleby, gr. to T. Brocklehurst, Esq., were cut speci- 
mens of Dendrobium Paxtoni, an exceedingly rare and beautiful 
species, with flowers of dee: i 
labellum strongly marked with dark-brown, and the margin 
most delicately fringed ; DB. nobile, the best of the group to 
which it belongs, and cut from a plant bearing upwards of 100 
flowers; a dark variety of Cyrtochilum maculatum, and On-« 
cfdium longifolium, with bright yellow flowers, remarkable for 
being paler at the back than on the front: a Banksian medal was 
awarded for them, From Mr. 
exceedingly fine cut specimen of Oncidium Cavendishianum, 
with Lissochilus grandiflorus, a newly-intro ‘i 
chidaceous plant, bearing a tall spike of singular, violet-coloured 
lowers, and a pretty {species of Dendrobium, also new, witl 
smooth, shining leaves, from the axils of which its fragrant, light 
buff-coloured blossoms, are produced separately and in pairs; 
for these a Knightian medal was awarded. Mr. J. ells, gr. to 
W. Wells, Esq., exhibited a cut specimen of Rhododendron ar- 
béreum album in great perfection, and a pretty seedling Epacri 
with the habit of E. impressa, but with flowers of a deep scarlet. 
Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter, a new and clegant species of 
Passiflora, called, from its resemblance to the rays of an Actinia, 
P. actinia; it was raised from Brazilian seed, and will probably 
From Mr. Redding, 
obtained between R. arbéreum and caucdsicum; and a fine plant 
of Banksia Cunninghdmii, bearing a multitude of its curious 
the Hon. W. Strangways were branches of Camellias, from plants 
growing in the open air, in Dorsetshire, jn different soils—loam 
appearance, the tips and margins of the leaves being completely 
veneta, Characias, and Myrsinites, which, although not producing: 
flowers, are valuable on account of their blooming, in 
fayourable situations, during the earliest months of the year, 
are hardy, but the former, unless protected, will only stand out in 
the milder parts 0 i 
it was about 3 feet high and 13 foot, in diameter, the wire being 
secured to three iron rods, for keeping it steady in the ground. 
Mr. D. Judd, of Southill Gardens, Biggleswade, exhibited three 
exceedingly good Cucumbers, one-called Young’s Champion, the 
others Mills’ Frame, with the following account: “ 
grown ina steep-roofed house, according to Ayres’ system; the 
house is heated by hot water, and although 20 feet long, the 
