3*6 



PAKT III. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Akt. I. Notes on some of the London Nurseries and Suburban 



Gardens. 



. Henderson'' s Nursery, Pine- Apple Place, Edgeware Road. — Feb. 12. The 

 number of hot-houses and pits in these grounds is yearly increasing, and 

 they now cover several acres. In no nursery about London are houses 

 and house-plants kept in better order and neatness, or the plants in a more 

 thriving condition. All the young heaths, amounting to many thousands, 

 are kept in frames, the pots standing on coal ashes ; the sashes are entirely 

 removed during mild days ; but, during nights and severe weather, the sides 

 of the frames are well protected by litter, and the roof by Russian or straw 

 mats, with or without litter under them, as may be thought necessary. It 

 is clear that, if the temperature can be kept a few degrees above the freez- 

 ing point by i-etaining heat, rather than by supplying it by dung or fuel and 

 letting it pass off through the glass in a continued stream (as it does in 

 green-houses where the roof is uncovered), the plants will be kept at much 

 less expense, and thrive a great deal better. The most difficult house to 

 keep heaths in during the winter, that we have ever seen, is the heathery 

 at, Woburn, which has a floor elevated 13 ft. or 20 ft. above the surface 

 of the ground, a span roof, and glass sides. The heaths ai"e kept alive 

 there, and generally look well; but, certainly, nothing like so well as 

 those in the London nurseries, where they are kept in frames. The atten- 

 tion of the gardener at Woburn must be most unremitting ; and it is 

 astonishing that the frequent watering does not destroy the plants. A 

 young man who has had the cai'e of the Wobiu-n heathery for a season . 

 has, indeed, gone through a species of moral training which will be of use 

 to him as long as he lives. 



The mice are very injurious to plants in flower in the frames at Hender- 

 son's nursery, by eating off the blossoms : to prevent their entrance, the 

 frame is set upon, and surrounded by, a small lining of road-stuff (the 

 scrapings of the highway). The gritty cutting nature of this material pre- 

 vents the animals from working their holes through it ; this operation in 

 the mouse genus being principally performed by the mouth. A lining 6 in. 

 below the surface of the ground outside the frame, and rising 3 in. above 

 the bottom edge of the frame, is found effectual. Newly sown peas are 

 protected from mice on the same principle, by sowing chopped furze along 

 with them. 



The show-house here is full of beauty ; and it is gratifying to observe 

 how many of the new acquisitions from North and South America have 

 .already become popular plants, which may be bought by everybody. 

 Among these, Schizanthus may be mentioned as an admii'able annual for 

 early forcing. 



In this nursery, and several others adjoining, there are plants of giant 

 ivy, 20 ft. high, kept in pots j so that, by means of these, a house, a bower. 



