326 



Calls at Nurseries 



64 n 



the hook ; and Jig. 65. a section of the pond, showing the hook in its place, 

 with a pot in it. In this figure, a is the hook resting on the coping of the 

 wall of the pond; b, the surface of the ground outside the pond; c, the 

 surface of the water in the pond ; and d, the bottom of the pond. 



In this garden are some fine old specimens of cedars, Magnolk grandiflora, 



Pinus Cembra, Gymnocladus ca 



ill 6 5 

 !§LI 



sssssisilir 



nadensis,Koelreuterapaniculata, 

 Halesja tetraptera, now finely in 

 flower, and a number of others. 

 Among the half-hardy things, we 

 found strong bushes of Gnidia 

 simplex. A plant of Jnagyris 

 is now beautifully covered with 

 bloom. When will this beautiful 

 tree, the Judas tree, and the 

 snowdrop tree, become as com- 

 mon about London as the labur- 

 num ? Plants of the former are 

 now almost as cheap as those 

 of the latter ; and they would be 

 cheaper if they were more in de- 

 mand. Would that we had a society exclusively devoted to the dissemination 

 of ornamental trees and shrubs ! The way for such a society to accomplish 

 its object would be, to employ gardeners to carry about dried or living speci- 

 mens of the different kinds of ornamental trees and shrubs ; and to point out 

 to the possessors of gardens, pleasure-grounds, and parks, those which would 

 thrive best in them. About London, specimens in pots or baskets might be 

 taken round in carts, at the season when they were in flower. We have before 

 suggested this for Magnolia conspicua, Wistaria, Caprifolium sinense, Chimon- 

 anthus fragrans, Ribes sanguineum, and a few others. All the American 

 shrubs, and other shrubs having hair roots, which are planted in peat earth, 

 admit of being taken up with balls, when they are in full flower, without the 

 slightest injurj', and sent in that state to any distance. Perhaps the time may 

 come when the flower-markets of London will be supplied in this way, from 

 distant country nurseries, by means of the railroads. The Portsmouth rail- 

 road, it is said, will pass near the Knap Hill Nursery, and through that of 

 Goldworth. It would then be easy for Mr. Waterer and Mr. Donald to sup- 

 ply London with magnificent specimens. 



In the flower-garden at Claremont there are a number of 

 handsome vases of Maltese stone placed along the sides of the 

 main walk, and on the coping of the wall of the basin ; but 

 these vases are without plinths, as in Jig. 66. This is a 

 very common error even among architects ; and it is not, there- 

 fore, surprising to find it general in gardens and garden scenery. 

 It is bad ; because there is an obvious want of connection, and 

 of a character of art, between a highly artificial article like a 

 vase, and mere turf, dug ground, or even the plain coping of a wall. When 

 vases are placed along walks, therefore, they ought not only to have plinths 

 (Jig. 67. a), but pedestals (Jig. 68. b) ; with or without 

 plinths at the base (c), according to the richness or simplicity 

 of the scene. The reader who has visited the gardens of 

 St. Cloud, near Paris, on a fete day, will probably recollect 

 the vases on the margins of the basins there. All of them 

 have plinths, like the one shown in fig. 67. p. 214. Vol. IX. 

 As a general guide for the gardener, in this and in all similar 

 cases, he may consider it as a fixed principle, that no work 

 of art should be set down on the ground, in gardens or 

 pleasure-grounds, or among natural scenery, without some 



