Leguminous Plants of Australia. -5 



others of the principal company apartments, look towards the entrance 

 front ; and thirdly, because the plainer the entrance front is, the better 

 it will contrast with the drawing-room front. 



In many places in Scotland, we found no flowers on either front ; and 

 in several, as many on the entrance front as on that of the lawn: but 

 what we disliked the most was that which we frequently met with, viz. 

 a degree of coarseness of surface, rough grass, and a total absence of 

 flowers and fine shrubs all round the house ; while there was a flower- 

 garden, and a portion of highly kept lawn at some distance from it, in 

 a shrubbery, or near the kitchen-garden. This we consider both as a want 

 of taste, and a great waste of expense, because no adequate effect is pro- 

 duced. No polish and refinement, no exertions of ornamental gardening 

 in distant parts of the grounds, will ever compensate, in our opinion, for 

 the want of these qualities near what ought to be the centre of all art 

 and refinement, the house. It is not that we disapprove of detached 

 flower-gardens or other ornamental scenes in different parts of the grounds; 

 on the contrary, in large and extensive places where every thing else is in 

 due proportion, we approve of these, as inducements to walk out and ex- 

 amine them, and as adding to the magnificence of the whole ; but we can 

 never approve of one of these gardens or scenes in a place where the lawn 

 in front of the house is neglected. Next to utility and convenience, what 

 painters call effect, or what some would call display, with us is every thing. 



( To be continued.) 



Art. II. Hints on raising the Leguminous Plants of Australia 

 and the Cape of Good Hope from Seeds, on acclimatising them 

 in Europe, and on their native Habits. By Mr. J. Bowie. 



Sir, 



Having procured, while in England, seeds of various species of 

 the Australian Jcacise, and sown them immediately on my arrival at 

 the Cape, I was much disappointed at the apparent failure of many of 

 them, but have found several of them vegetating after being three years 

 in the ground, during which period, they were duly attended in weeding 

 and watering. Seeds, also, of Acacia longifolia, saved at the Cape, and 

 sown ten days after gathering, showed the same tardiness in vegetating. 

 This circumstance led me to consider the best mode of treatment in trying 

 experiments with the Cape species of Acacia, and other South African 

 Leguminosae, and I find that nearly the whole of this order thrive better 

 by having water heated to 200°, or even to the boiling point of Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer, poured over them, leaving them to steep and the water to 

 cool for twenty-four hours. Where there is a numerous collection, and 

 the quantity small, of each species, they may remain in the papers. 



The soil in which to sow leguminous seeds in general, I would recom- 

 mend, should be one part sandy loam, and three parts thoroughly decajed 

 leaves. The common, or wide-mouthed, 48-sized pots are the best for 

 sowing the seeds in, as they allow sufficient room for draining, and con- 

 tain enough earth for the short time that may expire before planting 

 out, and the soil in them maintains a more equal degree of moisture than 

 in pots of a larger or smaller size: an essential circumstance to the growth 

 of seeds of every description. 



The Cape species of Leguininosa; may be sown at any time of the year 



b 3 



