208 Domestic Notices .- — England. 



years, having at planting a stem about the thickness of a tobacco-pipe, and 

 about 2^ ft. high. It is now more than 16 ft. high, and the stem is thicker 

 than a stout man's arm. Notwithstanding the late sharp frosts the tree re- 

 tains its strong and peculiar fragrance, and the whole of the foliage is as 

 perfect as it was during summer. The long-leaved wattle (Jcacia sp. ?) 

 thrives equally well ; as does also the bugwood ( Jcacia verticillata), of which I 

 have three specimens which resemble trees of furze, and are remarkably hardy 

 and beautiful. I have a number of other Australian trees and shrubs here, of 

 which I expect soon to send you the particulars. [We shall be most happy 

 to receive them.] During the late frosts I heaped sheet ice round the roots 

 of all these trees, so as to touch their barks, but they were not at all injured 

 by this ordeal. — R. H. Fleming. Coed Ithil, Jan. 15. 1854. 



Australian Trees in Mackie's Nursery, Norwich. — There is a tree here of 

 Jcacia dealbata, or aifinis, 16 ft. high, 5 in. in diameter at 1 ft. from the 

 ground, and with branches covering a space 12 ft. in diameter. Its shape is 

 pyramidal, and its bark smooth and of a greenish grey colour, though, when 

 old, it becomes rough like that of the oak. It grows in a light loam, with a 

 sandy subsoil, and in a north-east exposure. It has stood out here unpro- 

 tected four winters without receiving the least injury from frost, and is now a 

 very handsome specimen, completely covered with flower buds, which ex- 

 pand the beginning of April. It ripened a little seed last year. I have tried 

 many other species of acacias in the open air, but I have found none so 

 hardy as this. The name I received with it from Van Diemen's Land was 

 " black wattle mimosa." — F. MacJde, Nov. 28. 1834. 



It is stated in an Australian newspaper, that the Jcacia melanoxylon and 

 the Prostanthera also stand the open air at Norwich. The white gum (Eu- 

 calyptus resinifera), the most tender species of Eucalyptus in Van Diemen's 

 Land, though killed to the ground as a standard, is said to thrive against a 

 wall when protected during winter by a mat. We should be glad to have 

 some particulars of these and of other Australian trees which have been tried 

 in the open air in different parts of England. — Cond. 



Sida pulchella, which produces its clusters of beautiful white blossoms in 

 the gullies about Sunday Bay, and at the foot of Mount Wellington, in the 

 neighbourhood of Hobart Town, in the depth of winter, there can be no doubt, 

 would stand the open air quite well in England. A very beautiful species of 

 this genus, which had stood the winter at Redleaf, in Kent, in the garden of 

 W. Wells, Esq., was exhibited at the London Horticultural Society, Feb. 17. 

 1835. {See Report of the Hort. Soc.) 



At Cujfnells, near LyndJiurst, there is a celebrated J?hododendron ponticum, 

 considered the largest in England. Although the plantations of the American 

 garden at CufFnells are of small extent, and do not contain any great variety, 

 they are laid out with great taste, and there are some fine specimens of the 

 commoner rhododendrons and old azaleas. In the shrubberies are some four 

 or five fine specimens of Halesza diptera and tetraptera; but they are so over- 

 grown with other trees, that they would be useless as portraits. There is 

 also, in a small sheltered garden, a fine Edwards^ microphjlla, which, having 

 originally been planted against a low wall, has grown many feet above it, and 

 has no protection whatever. It flowers freely, and produces fertile seeds, 

 plants from which have been given to several people, in hopes that the indi- 

 viduals proceeding from seeds ripened in our climate may prove more hardy, 

 and perhaps succeed as standards. In the same garden is a very large plant 

 of a species of Metrosideros with white flowers, which has grown for years 

 without the least protection, and flowers most abundantly. Maurandya Bar- 

 claydna is perennial with us; but commonly dies down in the winter, shooting 

 vigorously in the spring. Acacia armata has been against a wall (north-west 

 aspect) for two winters, and is now covered with abundant bloom, just burst- 

 ing into flower. This plant has a mat in frosty weather. In the conservatoiy 

 we have some fine old plants of Jcacia armata, Acacia ? scolopendron, and 

 some fine old conservatory plants. — E. P. Feb. 5. 1835. 



