52 Queries and Answers. 



have it in your power to regulate the extent of the opening with the utmost 

 nicety. The ventilators at top, in the back wall, are moved by a similar con- 

 trivance. I am not aware whether Mr. Neil, Mr. Macdonald's gardener, be 

 the inventor of the simple apparatus above described or not j but all the first 

 expense must have been trifling : and, when we contrast the ease and precision 

 with which a man, by one movement, opens or shuts the whole, with a mode 

 requiring as many efforts as there are ventilators to be moved, it seems self- 

 evident that this, or some similar contrivance, ought in all cases to be adopted : 

 the saving of time would soon compensate for the first outlay. — G. M. 

 Elliott. Coul Gardens, Oct. 16. 1834. 



Mr, TowarcVs Account of the Moss House at Bagshot (X. 532.) is very 

 interesting to me; but the design of the house, I think, might be improved. 

 The slates struck me, when I saw it, as producing a bad effect ; and the roof 

 should have been concealed somehow. The arcade in front is also poor. 

 Mr. Toward has, however, conferred a benefit on summer-house building, by 

 his ingenious method of arranging moss : it is much more simple than I 

 thought, judging from the effect produced. — S. S. Nov. 7. 1834. 



Arboretum Britannicjim. — Proprietors who form extensive plantations, and 

 those that " stick in plants singly here and there, as the maggot bites ; " land- 

 scape-gardeners, nurserymen, and gardeners in common ; in truth, every man 

 who feels an interest in, who can look at, or derive pleasure from trees and 

 shrubs, must thank you for the effort you are making to lay before them 

 a work like your proposed Arboretuin Britannicmn. Nothing, I am convinced, 

 is so much wanted as a book of this kind, to bring into repute the rarer trees 

 and shrubs. During the preparation of this most desirable work, I trust the 

 men of Devon will not forget that they have a duty to perform ; and that the 

 magnolias, cork trees, and ilices of Mamhead; the magnolias, cypresses, and 

 camellias of Powderham and Killerton ; the magnolias, camellias, and erio- 

 botryas, &c. of Luscombe ; the tulip trees of Mount Edgecombe, &c. &zc., will 

 give evidence of our superior climate, and appear conspicuous objects in your 

 Arboretum Britannicum. In hastily embodying these remarks, I only regret 

 that I cannot more effectually further the object you have in view. However, 

 there is hers a single red camellia, planted out on the turf about sixteen years 

 ago, which has not, I believe, been protected for the last twelve years. [The 

 figure sent of this camellia is kept for our Fruticetum Britminicum.'\ Bicton 

 Gardens are situated about 2| miles from the sea, and are 83 ft. above its 

 level ; the soil and subsoil are chiefly sand. The branches of this single 

 camellia occupy a space 12 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and it is 9 ft. 6 in. high; it 

 has endured a temperature of 10° Fahr., which was the maximum of cold here, 

 during the five years that I have kept a meteorological register. About twenty 

 months since, I planted out several double varieties of camellia, which flowered 

 profusely last winter, and are now covered with blossom-buds. The single 

 red seldom blooms freely ; but this may be overcome by engrafting it either 

 on its own stock, or with a double variety. This example proves the single 

 camellia at least to be perfectly hardy," and, as an evergreen shrub, what can 

 be more desirable ? Its compact growth, and its dark green shining foliage, 

 besides the circumstance that it will thrive under the drip of trees better than 

 most other evergreens, and the facility with which it can be propagated, bid 

 fair to cause it to be generally used in shrubberies, or in masses as an under- 

 growth, as recommended by Mr. Gilpin. — R. Glendhming. Bicton Gardens^ 

 Nov. 12. 1834. 



Art. IV. Queries and Ans'wers. 



Has a Plant been named after Dr. Turton, the celebrated translator of the 

 works of Linnaeus ? I am not aware that there has ; but perhaps you, or 

 some of your readers, can inform me. The translation of the works of Lin- 

 naeus certainly had a powerful influence in giving a stimulus to the study of 

 natural history in Britain ; and, if a plant has not yet been named after this 



