672 Notes on Gardens and Country Seals : — 



indica, with thirty trusses of flowers all expanded, one of 

 them 1 ft. long and 6 in. in diameter ; Angelbnia salicifolia, 

 here a favourite ; Brugmansz« arborea, finely in flower ; Tac- 

 sbnia peduncularis, on an open wall, very vigorous, but not yet 

 in flower : large white fio; trees against a wall in the flower- 

 garden, which were not pruned till midsummer, as an experi- 

 ment, to see whether it would check their growth ; several 

 pieces of rockwork, and one ridge of raised ground v/ith 

 common heath as undergrowth, and rhododendi'ons as bushes ; 

 a number of the more rare pines; such as Cedrus Deoddra, 

 Pinus Sabinm;?(2, ponderosa, ^'axifolia, and Douglas//, &c. ; the 

 last, both here and at DrOpmore, makes two shoots every 

 season, grows as freely as the common spruce, or more so, 

 and promises tf^ be a valuable addition to our resinous timber 

 trees. Gaillard/a aristata is here difficult to keep through the 

 winter, as are some of the new calceolarias. The scarlet thistle 

 (Erythrolae^na consplcua) ripens its seeds by being sown in 

 the autumn, either in the open air and sheltered, or under a 

 cold frame. Myrtles against the walls have stood out many 

 years, and have ripened their berries, from which young plants 

 have been raised. Thunberg/a alata is sown in February, as an 

 annual, for beds and borders. The georginas, instead of being 

 tied to stakes, are pegged down, so as to cover the whole sur- 

 face of the bed with a mass of flowers, a practice which we do 

 not recollect to have seen elsewhere. Datura Metel, a very 

 distinct species, which, with D. ceratocaulon and Martyn/a 

 proboscidea, forms a singular ornament to the flower-garden. 

 The tall red stems of Phytolacca decandra are here, at 

 White Knights, at Frogmore, and at the Botanic Garden at 

 Twickenham, bold and imposing ornaments, and their beauty 

 is still greater when in fruit than when in flower. Mr. Green- 

 shields prefers fire heat (55°) to dung heat, for growing mush- 

 rooms; the former, he thinks, producing too much moisture. 

 In crossing the country to Strathfieldsaye, we observed a re- 

 markably large yew tree in the churchyard at Sulhampstead ; 

 and a long broad ditch, completely covered M'ith Sagittaria 

 sagittifolia ; on the margin of which was abundance of (Sym- 

 phytum officinale. We passed a number of other large yew 

 trees, and found also that this tree, of a large size, was abun- 

 dant in the park at Strathfieldsaye. At Mortimer Street, the 

 vicarage house has a very beautiful flower-garden and shrub- 

 bery, with a piece of water, the beauty of which may be fully 

 enjoyed by passengers on the road. The grounds consist of 

 two banks of turf, which slope down to the pond, and the 

 whole is considerably below the eye of a person walking 

 along the road. It would be easy to shut it out by a hedge of 



