Gardens in England. lY 



pose, could present nothing attractive, from its being appa- 

 rently situated in the centre of the city : but the contrary is 

 the case ; for you are ushered into a large piece of ground, 

 laid out with great taste as a pleasure-garden, and so arranged 

 as that all the surrounding objects, except the beautiful spire 

 of the cathech'al, are completely hid, so that one may at once 

 fancy oneself in the country. This place was then under the 

 able direction of the late Mr. Shennan, formerly gardener at 

 Gunnersbury House, a well known pine-grower, and a man of 

 very superior abilities. His pines were looking extremely well 

 when I saw them ; and we had some very handsome fruit in 

 various stages of grov>'th. Several specimens of hot-house 

 climbers were in high perfection; such as Combretum pur- 

 pureum, Passiflora Bonaparte^', &c. Some specimens of Ix6r« 

 coccinea were also well worthy of notice. The grounds were 

 bespangled with ornamental and rare plants ; but the kitchen- 

 garden department was confined to a small space, and evidently 

 looked on as of minor importance. The crops, &c., were, how- 

 ever, by no means deficient, and the whole place was character- 

 ised by neat and orderly keeping. I remain. Sir, &c. 



Wm. Sanders. 

 Laurence Hill Nursery, Bristol, Dec. 15. 1832. 



Art. III. A Visit to the Gardens of T. A. Knight^ Esq. 

 By Mr. John Pearson. 



Sir, 

 Knowing you are anxious to receive reports of different 

 gardens, I beg to inform you that I again visited Downton 

 Castle, September 7. Among the many things worthy of 

 notice, Mr. Knight showed me his Persian melons. Those 

 grown in pots are certainly very good ; but those that are 

 grown in (what I shall call) his patent melon pit are much 

 the best. This pit is built on the plan of heating cold air by 

 passing it through flues heated with dung linings, the prin- 

 ciple of which plan Mr. Knight has before described. I 

 mention it here, because I think the melons will surpass those 

 grown in pots, owing to the roots of the plants, in the former 

 case, not laeing exposed to the variations of the atmosphere 

 of the house, pit, Sic. 



Mr. Knight's pines are looking very well : he considers 



them much better flavoured than those grown in the usual 



way. He cuts them when quite green (that is, before they 



show the least appearance of colour), as they are the best 



Vol. IX. — No. 42. c 



