330 Calls at Nurseries 



kitchen-garden walls are, perhaps, rased to the ground, or have ceased to 

 become objects of interest. 



On the whole, we were much gratified with our visit. The more we know 

 of Mr. M'Intosh, the better we like him ; and we feel gratified that so good a 

 man, and one of so much taste, should have so good a master, and one who 

 can so well appreciate his merits, as the King of the Belgians. 



Goldworth Nursery. — May 16. Mr. Donald's arboretum has, as may be 

 supposed, made great progress since we last saw it in November, 1831. Com- 

 mencing with jRanunculaceae, we found the plants 20 ft. high, and two atra- 

 genes in flower. All the magnolias have stood out perfectly. The four ever- 

 green mahonias are now considerable bushes, and two of them promise to 

 ripen seeds. Passing rapidly on to Aicer, we found a beautiful variety of the 

 common sycamore, with the undersides of the leaves becoming purple, like 

 those of the Z)iospyros. The brooms, and the genus Cytisus, present a fine 

 display of blossom, particularly the silvery-looking species of broom from the 

 Azores, the Retama, here named <Spartium creticum. There is a large col- 

 lection of Cistineae, forming brilliant masses of rich colours, relieved by whites. 

 Among the .Rosacea? we found Morbus nipalensis, without a single bud ex- 

 panded, though the leaves of the British species, and also of every species of 

 ash, and of the red and white mulberry, were fully developed. On returning 

 to Bayswater on the 21st, we found our own tree of Morbus nipalensis in a 

 similar state. Its buds opened on the 25th, and the first leaf was not fully 

 expanded till June 5., when robinias, and all those trees usually considered 

 the latest in England, had made shoots of an inch or two in length, and the 

 fruit of the mulberry in the same garden was set. As far as we know, there- 

 fore, this is the latest hardy tree in Britain. It retains its fine yellow leaves 

 as long as the beech or the hornbeam ; and sometimes through the whole 

 winter. Its lateness in leafing may perhaps render it a desirable tree for being 

 planted among delicate undergrowths, which flower early in spring, such as 

 azaleas, many kinds of bulbs, &c. The .EViceas, including the heaths, azaleas, 

 rhododendrons, &c, next attract attention ; and afterwards the ashes, the 

 elms, and the oaks. The most beautiful-leaved ash is the Carolinian; the 

 yellow-barked drooping ash, a most ornamental tree, of which there is a fine 

 specimen in the Marylebone nursery, is wanting to the collection. If we 

 might choose among the oaks here, we should fix on Quercus palustris. No 

 deciduous tree can surpass, for singularity and beauty, the horizontal-branched 

 elm. The willows include almost all the species contained in the salicetum at 

 Woburn Abbey, and were kindly presented to Mr. Donald by the Duke of 

 Bedford. Among the pines we found Cedrus Deoddra doing well; Zarix 

 microcarpa, three years from a layer, is now upwards of 10 ft. high, and is 

 in all respects as perfect a tree as if it had been raised from seed. The leading 

 shoot which it made last year is upwards of 4 ft. in length. There is a com- 

 mon larch near it, raised from seed, which has not grown nearly so fast. The 

 L. microcarpa is the red larch of North America, where it attains the height 

 of 80 ft. It is remarkable for the ponderosity of its timber, which is so great 

 that it will hardly swim in water. Its cones are shorter than those of the com- 

 mon larch, and its leaves are narrower. #bies Douglass^' has grown faster 

 than any of the firs, and here, as everywhere else where we have seen this 

 tree, it promises to be a most valuable addition to our resinous timber trees. 



When this arboretum has so far advanced as that the trees begin to blossom, 

 it will then be time for nurserymen to think of raising improved varieties of 

 ornamental and useful trees and shrubs, by cross-impregnation. We have 

 not a doubt that superior varieties of all our common forest trees may be so 

 raised ; and our opinion is founded on the fact, that this holds good in every 

 other description of vegetable production. Nature gives the species, and 

 leaves it to man to improve it by cultivation ; and of this cultivation, cross- 

 impregnation is a most important part. 



To his arboretum, Mr. Donald has added a fruticetum, or, if the term is 

 preferred, a pomarium. This contains a dwarf and a standard of all the best 



