Qtieries and Anstsoers. 227 



architecture, I intend building a house on it in that style, and if possible faying out" the grounds 

 in a manner which might be considered by my friends as classical. I am no classical scholar my. 

 self, and therefore do not know much of what has been done in this way either by the ancients 

 or moderns; but I venture to ask you for such information as you can conveniently give and 

 for a reference to the best books on the subject. Trusting that my queries are fairly within the 



limits of that part of your work set apart for this purpose, I remain. Sir, &c Romanic; 



Dec. 3. 1829. 



Our correspondent may consult CastelPs Villas of the Ancients, Pliny's Letters, and above all 

 G. Laing Meason's Landscape Architecture of the Great Painters of Italy. From the first 

 named work we give the plan {fig.iS.) of Pliny's Laurentine Villa, the situation of which was 

 analogous to that in contemplation by Romanus. 



a, Atrium, or court of honour. k, Sylvae et montes, woods and hills in the dis- 



b, Hortus, or pleasure-garden. tance. 



c, Gestatio, or place of equestrian exercise. /, Villa vicina, adjoining villa. 



d, Vinea, or vine garden. m, Equilia, stables. 



e, Xystus, or terrace. re, Tecta vehiculis, carriage-house. 



f, Hortus pinguis rusticus, or kitchen-garden o, Lignarium, place for wood. 



and orchard. p, Fcenile, place for hay. 



g, Mare, the sea. Piscinae dua;, two fish-ponds. 

 h, Littus, the shore. r, Cells cervorum, place for deer. 

 i, Gymnasium, or place of exercise. 



Scotch Pine. — Sir, Having examined several curious notices in your Gardener's 

 Magazine, upon the very important question of whether the Scotch Fir [Pine], at present so 

 universally planted, is of the best sort of that kind, such as grows in Norway and the aboriginal 

 forests of Scotland, or whether it is an inferior sort more recently imported from Canada, I 

 take the liberty of sending you an extract from a very valuable and curious book printed 'in 

 Edinburgh, 4to, in 1778, and written by William Boutcher, nurseryman at Comely Garden, 

 Edinburgh, called a " Treatise on Forest Trees, with plain directions for removing the most 

 valuable kinds to the height of thirty feet and upwards with certain success." (The latter part 

 of the title called my attention to it as it lay on a bookstall, and I strongly recommend it to 



every forest planter who can lay hold of it.) The passage (p. 137.) is as follows : " It has been 



an old dispute which still subsists, whether there are more sorts than one of the Scots pine or 

 fir ; and it is commonly asserted that the difference we find in the wood when cut down and 

 polished, is owing only to the age of the tree or the quality of the soil where it grew. But this 

 assertion, I believe, is not just, and proceeds from want of proper observation, as I have seen 

 many fir trees cut down of equal age in the same spot, where some were white and spongy others 

 red and hard, from which to me it appears evident that there are two distinct species of them, and 

 indeed the difference of colour may easily be discovered by any one who walks through a newly 

 pruned plantation even of young trees." I consider this passage as very curious, and well worthy 

 the attention of the Highland Society. Perhaps you might be able to obtain some refutation or 

 confirmation of these facts and opinions from some of the agents of great forest-owners in Scot- 

 land. If it should turn out to be true, perhaps some nurseryman in the neighbourhood of the 

 forests might undertake to collect the seed from the red variety, and send the plants down to 

 us in the south. I am quite sure that no planter would hesitate to give a large additional 

 price for his trees, if it were made known through your Magazine where lie might apply for them 

 with certainty of having them true. I should think, too, that a large quantity of the cones might 

 be easily disposed of in London : for my part, I should readily take a good many. I observe that 

 the Highland Society has offered a premium for raising seedlings of the Scotch pine (/ J lnus 

 sylvestris) from seeds imported from Norway, or from the natural-grown pine in the Highland 

 districts of Aberdeen, Moray, and Inverness ; and a similar premium was offered some time 

 since by the Society of Arts, for trees raised from seed imported from Christiana. I should think 

 that it might be worth the while of some merchant connected with Norway to import a few 

 cones , at all events, if it were not much of a mercantile speculation in extent, I will undertake 

 to say that it would pay its own expenses, and be of essential benefit to the country in respect to 

 one of its most important and universal improvements ; it being, in fact, the question, whether a 

 really good and valuable timber shall be planted all over the land instead of a very bad or useless 

 sort. — IV. N. July 1. 1829. 



Pinaster (Phius Pinaster). — Being on these subjects, I would beg to ask any 

 of your correspondents if they are acquainted with the nature and qualities of the timber of the 

 Pinaster. During a recent ride to Weyhill, I saw several very fine trees which had been cut 

 at Oatlands, lying by the river side, affording capital opportunity for observation and experiment 

 on its strength and value. — Id. 



The Deciduous Cypress and Cork Tree. — I observed near Esher, in the front of 

 a new stone building by Mr. Malcolm, a few very fine plants which had originally stood in a 

 nursery ground, among the rest a fine deciduous cypress, say 40 feet high, and a very fine cork 

 tree. Do either of these trees ripen their seeds in this country ? Would not the cork tree thrive 

 in the West Indies ? and how could a quantity of its acorns be procured and safely sent out ? — 

 Id. 



The Antarctic Beech [Eucalyptus sp. ?] — Capt. Forster, who sailed in His 

 Majesty's ship Chanticleer on a scientific voyage to the south, tells us that Station Island, on the 

 east coast of Terra del Fuego, is covered with woods to the very summit of the hills ; and that the 

 principal tree is the Antarctic Beech, an evergreen, clothing the country with perpetual verdure. 

 What an acquisition would this evergreen be to us ! Try to introduce it. — Z. December, 1829. 



Would the Water Lily of the Ganges, with a blue flower, succeed if planted in 

 the hot water at Bath ? I think it would, and would be worth trying ; perhaps in time we might 

 naturalise [acclimatise] it in those springs of cold water which never freeze. I should like also 

 to try gold fish in the hot water, they are said to breed prodigiously in it. — Id. 



The Culture of the Bamboo in England. — A correspondent having enquired 

 in Vol. IV. p. 535., whether it may not be practicable to introduce the culture of the bamboo 

 into this country, I think it will not be an unwelcome thing to you and your readers, if I point out 

 what appears to me to be a reasonable probability of introducing with success at least one species 

 of this most valuable and useful vegetable. Since the genus, as well as all the species, is little 



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