306 Foreign Notices : — Italj/. 



Arte de' Giardini Liglesi (" On the Art of English Gardening"),* The garden 

 of this villa measures 100 superficial Milanese jjestic/ii. It was laid out in 1797 ; 

 and it may easily be supposed that, from the extent of ground well grouped 

 with trees, &c., it may serve as a model to landscape-gardeners ; but the absence 

 of water is a fault. There are busts scattered here and there, which recall 

 to the mind the recollection of great men dear to their country, temples, 

 thatched cottages, &c., all so well arranged as to give a good idea of the taste 

 and profound knowledge of the proprietor, who laid out and arranged the 

 whole. I observed the following plants standing the open air : Pistacia offi- 

 cinarum, Magnoh'a ten species, ^^bies canadensis, Lagerslrce^mz'a Indica, Pinus 

 nepalensis (longifolia), Camellia japonica, Araucaria imbricata, and Altingia 

 excelsa ; the four last are protected in winter. 



Villa Litta, at Laiiiate ; about three leagues and a half north from Milan, 

 and about the same distance west from Monza. This garden is laid out in the 

 French style ; but, latterly, the directors, Linneo and Auroneo Tagliabre, 

 brothers (the former is author of various important articles on botany and 

 horticulture in different scientific journals), have reduced part of the garden to 

 the English style. This villa is celebrated for its grottoes ; and there are 

 fountains and water-works, which, from their great variety, must have cost an 

 immense sum. The floors and great part of the walls of these grottoes are 

 inlaid with mosaic work, and small flints of various colours, ingeniously put 

 together, and arranged with taste ; the other parts of the walls are covered 

 with a calcareous tufFa, all of which gives a good idea of a real grotto. In some 

 of the rooms of these grottoes there are seen various objects of mineralogy 

 and conchology, tables inlaid with hard {dure} stones, lumachetti, and porphyry. 

 There are small statues in bronze, representing Mars unarmed, and a Venus and 

 a Magdalene in marble, the workmanship of the celebrated Professor Pompeo 

 Marchesi. The noTthevn facade of this building is in good taste ; the style 

 appears to be bramantesco, and is ornamented with marble statues, amongst 

 which there are two by Michael Angelo, representing twilight. The conser- 

 vatories are filled with beautiful plants ; and the luxuriance of their growth 

 speaks for the intelligence and care of those who have the management of 

 them. I observed the following plants among them : Lagerstroe^mfa regina, 

 Eugenia nervosa, Caryota urens and Onites, Panddnus odoratlssimus and 

 sylvestris, Coccoloba pubescens and emarginata, Cytisus scariosus, Allamanda 

 verticillata, Banksza latifolia and Lamberti, Guilandina Nuga, Kleinhofi'a hos- 

 pita, Pinckneya pubens, Pothos digitata, Robergia Pdnea, Terrain alia angus- 

 tifolia, Theophrasta americana, Zamia pungens. Calamus Rotang, Zizyphus 

 nepalensis ; Bromelia Ananas, barbadensis, coccinea, jamaicensis, and mala- 

 barica, Montserra, Providenza, rotunda, rubra, and antiqua ; Tillandsk dian- 

 thoida (the Amah'a aerisincola, see Gnrd. Mag. vol. iii. p. 209.), &c. The 

 Littae^a geminiflora flowered for the first time in Italy in this garden, in the 

 autumn of 1813. Amongst the Agrumi 1 observed the Citrus nobilis, mada- 

 riensis, and sinensis. The kitchen-garden is well stocked, and a part of it is 

 dedicated to the cultivation of three varieties of the Convolvulus Batatas 

 (Ipomoe^a Batatas), viz. the red, the white, and the yellow; they grow luxuri- 

 antly. We have never seen this vegetable in flower, even in warm summers ; 

 some of the tubers, when planted in the natural soil (terreno normale), and 

 sufficiently watered in dry weather, attain the weight of 49 oz. The red va- 

 riety is considered the most delicate by us, but it does not attain the large size 

 of the yellow and the white. 



The Garden of Cavaliere Dr. Luigi Sacco in Milan. — After speaking of 

 the most celebrated gardens in the circuit of Milan, I will now treat of 

 those that adorn that city. There are several horticultural commercial 

 establishments in Milan, and also several establishments for horticulture 



* In your Encyclopcedia of Gardening you say that the author of Arte de' 

 Giardini Inglesi is Sigismondo Silva. [See the article on the garden literature 

 of Italy in the current volume, p. 7 1 .] 



