146 Domestic Notices : — England. 



that the Horticultural Society of London are about to erect a most extensive 

 conservatory in the garden at Chiswick. The range will be nearly 500 ft. 

 long, running east and west, with a front both to the north and south. The 

 roof will be constructed entirely of iron, glazed with patent sheet glass, and 

 will have the form of a Gothic arch. The west wing, rather more than 180 ft. 

 long, and 27 ft. high, has been contracted for by Messrs. D. & E. Bailey of 

 Holborn, and will probably be completed by the middle of May. The whole 

 range, when executed, will be one of the most extensive in the world. No 

 association of individuals has ever introduced so large a quantity of beautiful 

 and useful plants into this country, as have been procured by the funds of the 

 Horticultural Society of London ; but those plants have necessarily been 

 confined very much to hardy species, in consequence of the want of 

 extensive glass houses. It is now to be expected that green-house and stove 

 plants, especially the former, will become a great object of attention with 

 the Society ; the effect of which will doubtless be, to improve the ornamental 

 character of tender plants in the same degree as that of hardy collections. 

 Few persons know how many objects are within their reach, the beauty of 

 which is far beyond anything now in our gardens, and that only require space 

 in which to grow them. (Bot. Beg., 1839, Month. Chron., p. 17.) This 

 information is to a certain extent gratifying; but, when we consider that the 

 kitchen-garden department is in a great measure given up, that the unique 

 collection of ananas is sold, and that the experimental ground is now turned 

 into a botanic garden, we confess it does appear to us a most unjustifiable 

 mode of disposing of the income or credit of the Society. In our opinion, 

 one of the principal objects of the Society ought to be, to have, in the kitchen- 

 garden department, specimens of all the best varieties of culinary vegetables ; 

 including all the new sorts, whether originated in Britain, on the Continent, 

 in America, or, indeed, in any other part of the world. The value of these 

 new sorts ought to be tested, and made known to the public from time to 

 time. The Society, as we think, ought to publish a catalogue of culinary 

 vegetables, with all their synonymes, in the same manner as they have done a 

 fruit catalogue ; which Fruit Catalogue, every one knows, has been of immense 

 service to the country. In short, the fruit department of the Society, and the 

 scientific examination of the young gardeners, are the redeeming points of 

 the establishment. It may be said, that varieties of culinary vegetables are 

 continually changing, and that, as kinds of cabbage, peas, spinach, &c, which 

 are considered the best at one time, in a few years give place to others that 

 are reckoned better, a catalogue could not be of permanent use. We allow 

 this ; but we consider it one of the strongest arguments for keeping up the 

 kitchen-garden department. Such a catalogue as we have recommended 

 would only occupy a few pages, and might easily be rendered efficient by fre- 

 quent editions, as, indeed, there ought to be of the fruit catalogue. 



By displaying, in the kitchen-garden of the Society, well-grown specimens of 

 all the best culinary vegetables, conspicuously named, gentlemen and their 

 gardeners, as well as the innumerable persons about London who visit the 

 gardens in the course of the summer, would see them, and be able to order 

 from their seedsmen, or to ask for from their greengrocer, kinds which they 

 had previously known nothing of but the name, and, perhaps, not even that. 

 By briefly describing all these varieties in a catalogue, a similar result would 

 take place with respect to gardeners living at a distance ; and the best 

 varieties would thus come far sooner into general cultivation than they do at 

 present. What gardener, for example, would continue sowing those miserable 

 little peas, the frame and the Charlton, while he could procure any of the 

 large succulent early kinds, such as Bishop's early dwarf, the dwarf fan, 

 &c. In many parts of the country, the Upsal cabbage is still considered the 

 best early variety, by persons who know nothing of Knight's early varieties, 

 and others which are grown by the market-gardeners about London. Who 

 would sow the common spinach that had ever seen theFlanders variety ? And 

 so on. 



