Floricultural Memora nda. 133 



is " redolent of roses." The late Sir John Malcolm, once joking 

 me on my passion for roses, said that I should have breakfasted 

 with him in Persia ; for, when on his embassy there, to compli- 

 ment him, they raised an immense heap, or rather mountain, of 

 rose leaves (it being the season for gathering them), and made 

 him take his morning repast on its summit. 



Alpines and Herbaceous Plants we grow extensively; and 

 the following is, perhaps, the most economical as well as the 

 most pleasing method of growing all those of delicate habits 

 and small flowers. On the north side of a hornbeam hedge 

 is a raised platform, 3 ft. wide, formed of two brick walls, 

 each 18 in. high and 4 in. thick, with a hollow space between 

 them, 3 ft. wide, filled with earth, and paved with slates or 

 tiles bedded in mortar. On the tiles are placed the pots, very 

 close together, not plunged in the summer, being shaded by 

 the hedge, and kept 'well watered, they flourish admirably; 

 and, when the different species bloom, they are placed so 

 much nearer the eye, that their beauties tell with more effect. 

 On the front edge a painted slip of deal is nailed to small piles 

 let in the brickwork. This gives a finish to the whole, and 

 prevents the pots from being displaced. A hornbeam hedge is 

 better than any other, for in summer there is plenty of shade ; 

 but, in autumn and spring, as it loses the greater part of its 

 foliage, it admits the sun and air. The worms, the greatest of 

 all enemies to alpine plants in pots, are in this manner com- 

 pletely baffled, and the plants seem to enjoy the trifling elevation, 

 as if they were growing on their native rocks ; besides which 

 (this is the economical part), they are never removed to winter 

 quarters, but stand here all the season, merely covered with 

 fern about nine inches thick, laid high in the centre of the 

 platform, and over the fern a single covering of small Prussian 

 mats, which are much better than the large mats. They are 

 the exact width of the platform ; and, from the fern being elevated 

 in the middle, and their close texture, all the heavy winter rains 

 run off. As the wind is apt to displace these mats, some poles 

 are laid on each outer edge, which keeps them firm. My plat- 

 form has been covered this last month or five weeks, from the 

 end of December to the end of January; and, in spite of the very 

 heavy storms that we have had, we find the plants all dry and in 

 excellent order. Keeping them from superabundant moisture is 

 a great object ; for frost, if it gets through the fern and mats, 

 has no injurious effect, if the mould in the pots is dry. At in- 

 tervals of mild weather, in February, they should be uncovered. 



T. Rivers, Jun. 

 Nursery, Sawbridgeivorth, Herts, 

 Feb. 1834. 



K 3 



