Q60 Foreign Notices : — Germani^^ Russia. 



fifteen years ago, he was the gardener there ; but the whole of the ground 

 being in lawn, except the kitchen-garden, in which he was only required 

 to grow cabbages, carrots, and the like common things, the mansion-house 

 being unoccupied, he had never done more than cultivate these articles, 

 and could neither write nor read. It was necessary for my business that 

 the gardener should do both ; I was, however, reluctant to dismiss him 

 merely because my business was not an ordinary one, and therefore 

 determined to keep him at least till I had found a situation for him. 

 The first operations I knew he could manage, as they consisted chiefly of 

 trenching and spade-work, and I desired one of his workmen who could 

 write, to do the few necessary writings. Courtois was still in his post 

 when February came, and I sent to him about 100 packets of seeds for 

 sowing on the hot-beds, many of them with odd botanical names, which he 

 had never heard of, and which I supposed his workman would register as 

 well as he could. The next time I went to Ven-ieres I asked for the gar- 

 den-book in order to examine whether they had been properly entered, and 

 I was astonished to see that the whole collection was in another hand- 

 writing; I enquired how it was, and found that Courtois had been himself 

 the scribe. He had been to school every night during the winter, without 

 informing me, and was now able to perform that part of his business toler- 

 ably well. This evidence of the man's mind convinced me that T had no 

 occasion to look out for another gardener, and I did not hesitate to settle 

 him in the place, notwithstanding his ignorance of nearly all the things he 

 was to cultivate. After the first year's instruction he has proved to be 

 exactly what I wanted, and perhaps did better than a learned full-grown 

 gardener would have done. He has staid with me the last fifteen years, 

 and I hope will remain as long as I live. 



There is nothing very extraordinary in these particulars, though the 

 main fact is worth your knowing, and I am sure you would have mentioned 

 it had you been acquainted with it when at Verrieres. — M. Vilmorin. Paris, 

 June 21. 1831. 



GERMANY. 



Stuttgardt, July 14. 1831. — Our venerable royal gardener, M. Richter, 

 was buried yesterday; and I shall probably send you some account of him, 

 I have increased our pine-apples considerably; so that, besides 150 fruiting 

 plants, I have got a great many suckers. I translate some useful articles 

 from the Gardener's Magazine, for the Hohenheim Institution, where they 

 are much approved of. I expect soon to commence a correspondence 

 with some of the principal gardeners in Germany; and whatever I receive, 

 that I think will be interesting to English gardeners, I shall send you. — 

 W. Hertz. 



Berlin, Aug., 1831. — Gardening is almost at a stand in Prussia, as in 

 most other parts of Germany. You will have seen M. Ranch, who has left 

 Vienna on a tour of a year or two ; and he intends spending one year in 

 England. I hear that you will soon see one of the Baumanns from BoU- 

 wyller ; and M. Petersen and another gardener from Denmark, I hear, are 

 now in England. — L. 



Substitute for Mulberry Leaves as food for the Silkworm. — Dr. Sterler 

 of Bavaria has found that the leaves of the J^cer tataricum, a hardy tree 

 common in our nurseries, may not only be substituted for mulberry leaves, 

 but are even preferred by silkworms. {Mechanics' Magazine, vol, ix. p. 13.) 



RUSSIA. 



Kuskovo near Moscow. — Sir, As you ask for additions and corrections 

 to your EncyclopcBdia of Gardening, I venture to send you this short account 

 of Kuskovo ; though, I have no doubt, the same person who supplied you 

 with your notice of Astankina could have done it better : — Kuskovo is 

 a country-residence belonging to Count Dmitrii Nikolaivitch, about eight 



