452 Domestic Notices : — England. 



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calamities of the spring. The very mild weather in January, February, and 

 March, brought forward the whole mass of the .Rhododendron alta-clerense 

 hybrids; when, just as they were covered with turgid umbels ready to expand, 

 came the frost in April, and destroyed hundreds of the buds, It was quite a 

 floricultural calamity. Even the more tardy umbels were injured, many of 

 the florets in each being spoiled. Then we had a great fright; for in many of 

 the specimens the bark split and came off, disclosing the naked stem : these, 

 the gardener swathed in haybands, expecting them to die to the ground, but 

 they have quite recovered; the bark is regenerated, and the plants are growing 

 surprisingly. Next year the show will be immense, and such a concatenation 

 of premature warmth and frost can hardly happen a second time soon. The 

 azaleas were very superb, and some of the latest are even now in flower, 

 perfuming the air with their fragrance. — R. High Clere Parte. June 27. 1834. 



Syon House Gardens. — Mr. Thompson, late of the Grange, who succeeded 

 Mr. Forrest in the management of these gardens, has in his turn been suc- 

 ceeded by Mr. Carton, late of High Clere. We hear that the same system of 

 rigid exclusion, even of gardeners, is still to be maintained. 



The numerous fine Ylices at Mamhead, near Exeter, appear, from some letters 

 found a short time ago in taking down the old house there, to have been 

 planted in 1718; in which year, as I was informed, the safe arrival of them 

 from Smyrna or Aleppo is mentioned. — W. C. Trevelyan. Athenaeum, Pall 

 Malt, July 9. 1834. 



The new Evergreen hucombe's Oak, mentioned by Mr. Rutger (p. 185.), is 

 known here, and in some other nurseries, as the Narrow-leaved Lucombe, or 

 Fulham, oak. It is a beautiful variety, retaining its dark-green foliage, in mild 

 winters, till April or May. — T. Rivers, jun. Sawbridgeworth, May 23. 1834. 



Of the Red-corollaed Nelumbium speciosum, of A^bies spectdbilis Lam. (Vinus 

 Webbiana Wall.), and of the Cedi-us Deodara, we have received seeds from Dr. 

 Wallich, since we noticed, in p. 278., the receipt of other seeds from him. In 

 this instance, some of the seeds of the Cedrus Deodara were sent in a portion 

 of a cone, and some in a vial : neither these nor those look very promising, 

 but those in the cone look most so. Scarcely a seed is without one or more 

 blisters of oil beneath the integument, as in those described in p. 278. All 

 the seeds of yTbies spectabilis seem dead, and are so dry that their embryo is a 

 mere shriveled thread. The seeds of the Nelumbium are noted for very 

 long retention of life, and we have imparted Dr. Wallich's plentiful supply of 

 these to various heads of botanic gardens, and to nurserymen, and added to 

 them portions of the seeds of the .4 v bies and Cedrus, that those who are hopeful 

 of their growing may have an opportunity to do their best with them. Upon 

 the cover of our Number LII., we have, through inadvertence, announced the 

 seeds of the Nelumbium, as additional ones of the white-corollaed variety, but 

 we found them, on opening the package, to be seeds of the red. The date 

 upon the labels to the seeds is October, 1833 : we received the seeds on June 

 27. 1834. — J. D. 



A Species of Tacsonia has been in flower nearly the whole of the winter on 

 a west wall in the open garden at Englefield House, near Reading. Mr. 

 Greenshields has promised us an account of it, and in the meantime plants 

 may be obtained at Mr. M' Arthur's nursery, Connaught Square, Edgeware 

 Road. 



A Selection of Heartseases, painted by Mrs. Withers, has lately been exhibited 

 at the Horticultural Society's rooms, and also shown to us at Bayswater, 

 The varieties are beautiful, and they are most exquisitely painted. An emi- 

 nent artist happened to call while they were before us, who declared that he 

 had never seen any work of the kind so beautifully executed. There can be no 

 question of the high talents and great industry of Mrs. Withers. The artist 

 we alluded to has the same objection as ourselves to the mode of mixing 

 the different varieties together, adopted by Mrs. Withers, in common with the 

 growers of florists' flowers, instead of arranging them according to their affini- 

 ties. Mrs. Withers states that the flowers were placed in the order she drew 



