356 Londo?i Nurseries 



sition to the known species of this family. In the same house are plants of 

 the rare Andromeda arborea, and a number of seedling camellias produced 

 from crosses, in which the parents have been selected on the principle 

 adopted by breeders of live stock with a view to improvement. There are 

 also seedling hybrid rhododendrons here produced on the same principle. 

 These plants are valued by Mr. Knight very highly. Above a score of 

 young plants of Araucm-'ia imbricata, and many plants of Cunningham«« 

 lanceolata ; both of which, from their habitats in their native countries, may 

 one day be found quite hardy. In another house is a good stock of im- 

 ported orange trees from Malta, including all the best kinds grown in that 

 island. Among these is the mandarin orange, remarkable for its perfume 

 as well as its flavour. It separates from the rind like the kernel of a nut 

 from its shell, without any trouble of peeling or paring, and has been very 

 appropriately designated by the Chinese as the aristocrat of the orange 

 family. It is much to be regretted that oranges, and especially the man- 

 darin and blood-red Maltese varieties, are not more cultivated as dessert 

 fruits. They would thrive admirably, treated like peach trees, as at Wood 

 Hall in West Lothian, or as at Fion's in Paris. Mr. Knight practises exten- 

 sively, with his oranges, camellias, tree rhododendrons, and other house 

 plants, what may be called eking pots, by raising on them, from the height 

 of from 3 in. to a foot, rims of tempered clay, filling the space within with 

 earth ; by which means an increase of space for the roots is obtained in 

 less room than if a larger and broader pot were made use of. Mr. Knight 

 finds that oranges do not agree with being often disturbed, and that shifting 

 once in three or four years is sufficient. We believe the same thing holds 

 true of camellias, and also of the whole of the natural order ^ricese. In this 

 and other propagating houses Mr. Knight maintains a greater degree of arti- 

 ficial heat at this season than is necessary for the preservation of the plants, 

 in order to accelerate their growth betimes, and thus prolong their summer, 

 and get their shoots well ripened before winter. All these propagating 

 houses are backed against each other in such a manner as to form large 

 quadrangular masses, by which means the greatest quantity of area is 

 obtained at the least expense of material and the exposure of the smallest 

 quantity of surface to the external air for the escape of heat. 



We have before had occasion to notice the order and regularity main- 

 tained in Mr. Knight's packing and potting sheds ; but, we believe, we 

 omitted to mention that his potting benches are of broad flag-stone, with 

 raised wooden edges for striking the pots against to loosen the bails. 

 Durability is the object of the pavement. We should have liked the power 

 of heating the potting sheds, as in the long shed at Mr. Lee's and in all 

 those erected by Mr. Forrest at Syon. The men, by being rendered more 

 comfortable, do much more work, and the plants are likely to be gainers. A 

 fewyeai's ago, a nurseryman, pr indeed a gentleman's gardener, who would 

 have taken any thought about the comfort of his men, or at least so much 

 as to heat their potting sheds, would have been stigmatised as a senti- 

 mentalist who v.'ould spoil them for work ; but the times are altering, and 

 gardeners, as well as others, are making the discovery that all men ai'e 

 naturally equal, and that the only artificial distinction which confers any 

 superiority is that produced by knowledge and manners. What existed 

 fifteen years ago among gardeners and country labourers will hardly be 

 credited fifteen years hence; such is the ratio of human improvement when 

 its progress extends to the mass of society, and when the mass and the 

 directing powers are in pursuit of the same end. Mr. Knight's packing 

 sheds being open, and all under one roof, are well calculated for easy 

 superintendence; though, being exposed to the north, they must be cold, 

 and the operations of packing are not all such as to enable a man to keep 

 himself warm. 



In a border outside the orangery, Alstrcemena pulchella and bicokr 



