408 General Results of a Gardening Tour : — 



One word as to the management of villa residences ; and 

 that is, to recommend the employment of superior gar- 

 deners. For the sake of an apparent saving of 10/. a year, 

 a gardener is employed who has very little knowledge of his 

 profession, and under whose care half the uses and enjoy- 

 ments which a garden and villa grounds are calculated to pro- 

 duce are lost. We believe it is very difficult to convince men 

 of this who have become wealthy by habits of rigid economy : 

 they know little difference between a gardener and a common 

 country labourer. Our test for hiring a gardener would be, 

 his being a reader ; for, in the present state of the art, it is 

 quite impossible to be a good general gardener without not 

 only the habit of reading, but of reading a good deal. In 

 many places, in the interior of the country, good gardeners 

 are not easily obtained, unless it be from the London nur- 

 series ; but it is to be hoped that the number of good gar- 

 deners will be every where increased through the instru- 

 mentality of the local botanical and horticultural societies. 

 That at Manchester, having a regular school for teaching 

 young men, promises to do much in this respect. 



Tbtuw Gardens. — Under this denomination we include the 

 gardens and grounds attached to houses in streets, and also 

 the gardens belonging to persons living in towns, but which 

 are detached from their houses ; the latter being gardens of 

 culture only. 



Of gardens and grounds attached to street houses, it gives 

 us much pleasure to state that we found some entirely to our 

 satisfaction. The richest and most elaborate of these was that 

 of Mr. Edwin Bullock of West Bromwich ; the next, those, 

 of Mr. Flowe, and Mr. Herbert of Coventry ; and the next 

 after these, that of Dr. Loudon at Leamington. To these we 

 may add the late Mr. Brookhouse's garden at Warwick, and 

 the garden and grounds of Miss Parsons at Dudley. By the 

 gardener at this last place we were informed that pines grow 

 remarkably well in the immediate neighbourhood of works 

 producing immense quantities of coal smoke. The pines not 

 only grow well, he says, in such situations, but the very con- 

 siderable quantity of soot which is continually falling on them, 

 and which slides down into the axils of the leaves, effectually 

 prevents the growth of the mealy bug, or, indeed, of any 

 other insect. The health of his plants, and their entire free- 

 dom from insects, notwithstanding the sooty appearance of 

 the lower parts of their leaves, seem to corroborate his opi-- 

 nion. The fruit grown, we can assert, is equal in flavour to 

 any we have ever tasted. If this opinion should be confirmed 

 by experience in other places, every innkeeper and confec- 



