656 Notes on Provincial Nurseries. 



Art. V. Notes on Provincial Nurseries. By J. P. W. 



No. 1. The Milford Nursery, near Godalming. 



Perhaps you will allow me to lay before you and your numerous readers 

 a few remarks I lately made in visiting some of the provincial nurseries ; and 

 as that at Milford, near Godalming, belonging to Mr. William Young, was the 

 first which I visited, I shall accordingly begin with it. 



The Milford Nursery occupies a beautiful situation about half way between 

 London and Portsmouth, with the Portsmouth Road running along its 

 southern boundary. The nursery abounds in every description of tree gene- 

 rally used in extensive planting, with an immense number of evergreens, such 

 as laurels, yews, cedars, hollies, box, &c. In passing along the road, the 

 general effect of the nursery is very striking, from the appearance of the ex- 

 tensive pits and green-houses which meet the eye, backed by numerous thriving 

 young trees, assuming at a distance the character of an evergreen plantation. 

 On entering the grounds 1 was not a little pleased with a fine specimen 

 of Juniperus thurifera Lin., forming a beautiful spreading evergreen tree 

 feathered to the ground, and hence an appropriate ornament for the lawn, 

 or to stand out singly from a group where a low-growing tree is required. 

 A little further on I observed several fine specimens of J. phoenicea Lm., 

 Cupressus sempervirens stricta Arb. Brit., and Taxus baccata fastigiata 

 Arb. Brit. In a turf pit not far from these large specimens, I saw a fine 

 specimen plant of (7upressus torulosa Lamb. ; and, in pots, above 50 strong 

 young plants of this species for sale. Also in pots, several fine specimens of 

 that beautiful and, since the winter of 1837-8, scarce tree, C. lusitanica Tourn. 

 In my opinion this evergreen ought to be in every collection of ConiferEe in 

 the country; as also Juniperus excelsa W., yfh.\c\\ forms one of the finest 

 trees of all the section Cupressinae, attaining a height of 60 ft. with a slightly 

 pendent habit. I have no doubt that, from its great elegance, this tree will in a 

 few years become plentiful in our nurseries, as, from its extensive geographical 

 distribution, seeds might be either procured from the New or Old World ; 

 from the latter, no doubt, through the Calcutta Garden. At present Mr. 

 Young's stock of it appears limited, as I only observed a few small plants 

 in pots. In Jbietinae Mr. Young seems very rich. I saw fine specimens of 

 Pinus Bankszawa Lamb., P. SabinzaHa Doug., P. Coulteri D. Don, P. lon- 

 gifolia Roxb., P. canariensis Smith, P. excelsa Wall., P. hambertidna Doug., 

 P. monticola Doug. ; with many of the common sorts in large quantities, 

 such as P. pumilio Hcen/ce, P. Laricio Poir., P. austriaca Hoss, P. Pallas- 

 idna Lamb., &c. &c. Among the rarer J'bies I observed A. Smithiihia Wall., 

 A. DouglasM Lindl., A, Menziesw Doug., A. cephalonica Arb. Brit, [now Picea 

 cephalonica] ; and in Picea nearly all the species. There is also a fair pro- 

 portion of all the genera belonging to Conlferas. 



As this is the season of the year when all deciduous vegetation begins to 

 fall " into the sere and yellow leaf," 1 was not a little pleased in observing 

 the various tints of autumn, especially in the genus Quercus (which is here 

 rather numerous, counting above thirty species, exclusive of varieties). Q. 

 t'nctoria Willd. was in all its beauty, as was also Q. rubra L., with most of 

 the same section. There are some fine full-grown specimens of American 

 Quercus and acers in the arboretum of P. B. Webb, Esq., Milford House, 

 which adjoins the nursery, and which are now clothed in yellow, orange, pur- 

 ple, red, and scarlet. 



In a compartment near one of the green-houses, I observed a numerous 

 collection of Cratas gus Lindl., containing about 50 species and varieties, all 

 named according to the Arboretum Britannicum : and in a row not far from 

 the above was a fine assemblage of pendulous trees, consisting of weeping 

 ash, weeping willow, weeping beech, weeping elm, weeping poplar, weeping 



