THE GARDENERS 





-^TTuTunerring goodness towards everything that He 

 JJmade. Willi am Kidd. 



CHRONICLE. 



/73 





FOREIGN GARDEN GLEANINGS. 



RotAL Gardens at Charlottexbourg. — A wide and 

 laiitifal avenue leads from Berlin to Charlottenbourg. 

 In a comer of the park at the latter place, upon a small 

 ^ound, may be seen the tomb of K. William, surrounded 

 w & magnificent platform, on which the most rare and 

 splendid flowers are to be found throughout the summer. 

 Jt the end of this park, and before the palace, there 

 is another platform, shaped like a horse-shoe, and 

 Signed by the King himself with exquisite taste. 

 Although it is not ornamented with a single shrub, the 

 janual and biennial herbaceous plants are so arranged 

 ^cording to their height, colour, size, and duration, that 

 the effect produced is grand in the extreme. 



Behind the palace are gardens laid out in different 

 styles ; there is a charming artificial Swiss valley, sur- 

 rounded by beautiful trees, and on one side bounded by 

 » stream of ^ water, shaded by fine specimens o 

 Cupressus disticha, and crossed by rustic bridges. At 

 the end of this valley there are some tropical trees, and 

 especially an Araucaria excelsa from Chili, worth 

 200 dollars ; this magnificent tree suffered a little in its 

 passage to Europe, but has now quite recovered and is 

 in full health and vigour. 



We need not describe the great clumps of trees &c. 

 tattered here and there, and which serve as a sort of 

 frame to this splendid picture. Further on there are 

 falms in the open air, trees from cold climates, and 

 groups of Agave of an uncommon size, crowning a small 

 hill. In the damper places there are.Cannas, Maranta 

 graudis, Arundo Donax with ribbon leaves, Fuchsia 

 corymbosa, Mexican Maize, Persicaria from the Levant, 

 and Ricinus. We should very much like to see such 

 masses of vegetation introduced into our own country. 



The Orange house, decorated with statues of gods 

 and goddesses, was built in the time of Frederick the 

 Great, is 58 yards in length, and contains 500 Orange 

 trees. ° 



The kitchen garden, though its soil is hot and dry, 

 nevertheless furnishes an abundance of excellent vege- 

 tables. The fruit trees, and the Apricots more par- 

 ticularly, bear very plentifully. Vines are trained with 

 great care, and in various shapes. We were very much 

 struck with a small spot in front of the temple of Princess 

 Lignitz ; the flowers which decorate it are tastefully 

 shaded by the Vines, which form over them a species 

 of canopy. The park is too much like that at Versailles 

 to deserve auy s pecial remarks. M asson's Report. 



Home Correspondence. 



Late Roses. 

 Moore 



present notice. With regard to naturalising even the 

 hardiest species, everyone must have observed 



and unaccountable 



strong 



sheet-glass, showing that the light through the rowfti 

 plate is of tho best quality ; and 1 couider that th'm 

 description of glass is a boon to the horticulturist, as 

 the obligation to shade, to save plants from the scorching 

 propensity of sheet-glass, at a time when you require the 

 sun-light upon them, is a very serious disadvantage 

 Henry Bundy, gardener to Lord Dynevor, Ih/nrvar 

 Castle, Llandilo. [We here close our correspondence 

 concerning Hartley's rough plate. We have mor* 



from the type, the expectation of acclimatising tender .of the light mon the cottar used under _^h k,«H *f 

 plants may be pronounced nearly hopeless, and is not glass, thft the ray ^ £ ^0^5^ ofc 

 intended to be mcluded m the recommendations of the | other ; but the extraction orThSe o? colour ,Sl tj 



much more even under the rough plate than under the 

 the -1 - * * ' # • - 



re pugnance of the vast 

 majority of plants, however easy their culture within 

 the garden walls, to sow themselves to any extent, or 

 to reproduce themselves for any length of time even 

 when self-sown, outside of them. It is sufficient to 

 have mentioned these few preliminary points before 

 proceeding to some more practical observations 

 hereafter. S. 



Rough Plate v. Sheet Glass.— It « An Old Gardener's * 

 sheet glass is not better than 21 ozs. to the foot, I expect 

 that if his houses are exposed to the sun, he will have 

 a scorching, except the aspect be a north one. I happen 

 to have from 4000 to 5000 feet of Vineries, glazed with 

 21 oz/ sheet, which was procured from a first-rate 

 firm ; but I have never been able to get over a season 

 without the foliage of my Vines being dreadfully burned. 

 This, however, has not occurred through want of robust 

 health, for with all the disadvantages which this glass 

 possesses, my Vines are the very acme of perfection in 

 that respect. Your correspondent speaks of the old 

 fashioned common glass, no doubt meaning the old 

 green glass. Ah ! give me that now in preference to 

 sheet. It is twenty to one better for good cultivation ; 

 indeed, my sheet glass, looking obliquely at it, appears 

 as if it had been hammered upon an anvil. I have had 

 Camellias burnt under it, 7 feet from the roof. What 

 glass manufacturer in England will not tell you that he 

 knew it would cause burning ; but he was obliged to 

 meet a foreign market ! I trust that its sun is setting, 

 however, never again to rise, as far as horticulture is con- 

 cerned. Now a word as to the mer i ts of rough plate. A t 



letters to the same effect ; and our own experience is 

 conclusively in favour of it] 



Phillips's Fire Annihilator. — I desiderate practical 

 information : l,as to cost ; 2, as to bulk, weight, and 

 moveableness ; 3, as to quantity of charcoal and nitre 

 requisite to use, and therefore to kc ep ; 4, as to time 

 required in getting it ready ; and 5, as to competency 

 of farm-servants, house-servants, and others, not prac- 

 tical chemista, to get it ready for use, and use it. It 

 points to most important results : 1, a law compulsory 

 on all parishes, at least in towns and villages, to keep 

 them ; 2. to covenants in farm leases to do the like ; I 

 to the depreciation of fire-insurance-office shares ; and i 9 

 to Mr. Phillips purchasing Stow, and not nsurfag it. 

 A. If. [For prices and such information you should 

 write to the company's shop, at 150, Leadenhall-street 

 Each time tho machine is fired, a fresh charge is 

 quired ; and persons in the country should keep such 

 charges by them ; they are sold with the machines. 

 The action is as instantaneous as tin discharge of a fire- 

 lock, and no more skill is required in its use than pullin 

 a trigger. It is always ready for use, just as a load* 



gun is always ready.] The satisfactory notices of 



the present time I have nearly 3000 feet of it in use in the j this very ingenious, and. ae I have myself wit 



shape of pits and conservatory, and I am so far satisfied | very effective invention for the immediate extinction of 



of its superiority, not only over sheet gla«s, but also 

 over all other kinds of glass for horticultural purposes, 

 that for whatever is to reglaze or erect new here, I will 

 adopt it without hesitation. I use it for plant culture, 

 Melons, Cucumbers, propagating, &c, and perhaps no 

 one regrets more than I do that I cannot replace the 

 sheet in my Vineries with it. It is a mistake to suppose 



fire, which have from time to time appeared in your 



J>aper, lead me to suppose that the subjoined xtract 

 rom a newspaper rutting, relating to a similar invention 

 in the former part of tin last century, will not be unin- 

 teresting. I found the rutting pasted into an old copy 

 of u A Century of Inventions by the Marquis of Wor- 

 cester." I shall not be mistaken by you or by Mr. 



that it obstructs light; on the contrary, it collects and j Phillips, if this should moot his eye, to wish to detract 

 diffuses it better than the clearest sheet or crown glass, from the merit of that gentleman's invention, but rather 



I have recommended it to novelty alone may attach to his very important disco- 

 all my friends, and I have had the pleasure of seeing it j very *" * * ***° T 1MA m ~ 











The following are now in full flower at 

 Abbey, County Kildare : Baronne Prevost, 

 Duchess of Sutherland, Bouquet de Flore, Geant des 

 Batailles, LaReine, Madame Laffay, Mrs. Elliot, Madame 

 Desprez, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Fellenberg (very 

 fine), Abricote, Devoniensis, White China, AimCe 

 Vibert, Jaune Desprez, Rose de Roi, Bourbon Queen, 

 Gloire de Eosamdne (very fine), Grand Capitaine, Pierre 

 de St. Cyr, Celimene, and Acidalie. Since the above 

 vw written, there have been two nights' hard frost, 

 thich will, no doubt, put an end to Rose flowering this 

 *ason. Alexander Matthew, Dec. 1. 



Bints to Persons making a Garden. — Rock, wood, and 

 *&ter being the principal constituents of natural scenery ; 

 fcad, clay, and lime the most obvious characteristics of 

 natural soils, it becomes an object with the gardener to 

 *iapt— not his soil to his plants, as is the common but 

 mistaken practice — but rather his plants to his soil, 

 **the same time that he makes the most of his situation 

 fa picturesque beauty and horticultural enjoyment. An 

 ^oneous idea prevails, that it is necessary to have a very 

 ?°od^-that is, a very rich soil, natural or artificial, for 

 a flower-garden : a notion to which the requirements of 

 *k kitchen and fruit-garden have, in all probability, 

 Jtotributed. But most persons who have travelled with 

 toknical pursuits in temperate climates (for with 

 j°pical botany, our out-door gardening has nothing to 

 % must have observed that the districts most produc- 



e of variety are those of a wild and sterile character ; 

 ** that while in regard to luxuriance and vigour 

 ^ the development of individual species, fertile 

 fcins and rich alluvial valleys are pre-eminent, 

 ■sjare accompanied by great monotony in the pre- 

 !*&ng features of their vegetation. The modern taste 

 gardening in England is gradually leading to a some- 



?>f higher aim and wider scope than the mere 

 Escape pleasure-ground of the last century, or the 

 *?**£ formal floriculture which preceded it : neither 

 *|u be abandoned, because each has its merits, but they 

 *?*j it may be foreseen, be united with views of a more 

 *tentifi e character. ^Geography and physiology may each 

 rj^ibute to give interest to collections in which mere 

 ^ticultnre plays but a subordinate part, though capable 

 ^combining and illustrating these two branches of science 

 * * Ver y high degree. The introduction of new plants, 

 n, l the trial by experiment how far certain species, 

 S-nera, or faming — 0P the plants in general of certain 



?°ns, can be Adapted to one climate without care, or 



jrfivated to an y useful purpose with care, form also 



*Ptunate objects of an enlightened system of horti- 



tore. A. few years ago the notion of acclimatising 



Naturalising plants of warmer lands than our own, 



^ beginning to prevail, but was checked by some 



ere winters, as well as by juster views of what it 



w/ re asonable to expect in modifying the laws of 



Another advantage which it possesses is, that there is no to aim at overcoming any prejudice which from mere 



scorching and no shading. 



" The cutting is dated in M.S. June 17<>0. The 



adopted for the growth of the Vine. My friend is an J extract is as follows: — u The famous machine for 

 amateur, but he has produced a pattern of Vine growing immediately extinguishing fires, invented by that 

 under rough plate, that would not be a disgrace to me eminent chemist, the late Mr. Ambrose Godfrey, will, 

 or even " An Old Gardener/' As to this kind of glass ' we hear, bo submitted to the judgment of the pre- 



becoming dirty, that has not happened here. There are, 

 however, many samples of;glass in the market, called 

 rough plate, which I would not use. The glass I have 

 employed was purchased of Mr. James^Hartley, of the 

 Wear Glass Works, Sunderland, sole patentee of the true 

 rough plate. A large conservatory erected at this place, 

 glazed by him, is open for inspection as to its appear- 

 ance, utility, &c. This glass is perfectly efficient for all 

 purposes of horticulture ; it effects a saving of fuel, and 

 is proof against the severest storms. James Robert*, Gar- 

 diner to the Duke of Cleveland, Rahy Castle, Nov. 28 



sent age ; and, if found to answer tho original intention, 

 it is hoped will not be suffered again to drop into neglect. 

 This machine is of a convenient portable size, proposed 

 to be hung tip in houses to be ready upon all occasions ; 

 and by being thrown into the window of a room on fire, 

 by a sudden explosion suffocates and extinguishes the 

 flames. In the year 1723 an edifice waa erected at 

 Belslize, near Hampstead, on purpose to try the experi- 

 ment, which was set on fire and extinguished by the 

 machine, to the satisfaction of some of the first nobility 

 and persons of condition of that time. But from what 



It may interest some of your readers to know, that last fatality so great a design was then laid aside and never 

 winter I re-fflazed with * Hartley's rou^h plate" a since taken up again, is at this time extremely difficult 



Vinery, which had previously been glazed with sheet 

 glass ; and which gave occasion to the complaints I 

 formerly made against that article. The Vinery is a 

 large house, with a flat roof, requiring nearly 1000 

 feet of glass, and during the late summer, it has an- 

 swered every expectation I was led to hope from its use ; 

 and I have much pleasure in adding my testimony to 

 its good properties, and adaptation to most garden 



John Spencer,' gardener to the] Marquis of 

 Bowood, Dec. 2. 1 have for the last 



purposes 

 Lansdownc y 



three years had a large quantity of Pines and a variety 

 of stove plants growing under Hartley's patent rough 

 plate glass. During the hottest sunshine, I have 

 never required shade, and the plants have grown, 

 especially the Pines, with a health and vigour that I have 

 never seen surpassed. No instances of scorching have 

 occurred, nor has the glass become dirty. I never would 

 use any other glass for Horticultural purposes. TirydaiL 



The south side of the roof of the plant-stove here 



was glazed with Hartley's patent rough plate, in panes 

 30 inches by 7 inches, three years ago ; and from my 



to be accounted for," //. 



Winter Covering' for' Hothouses.— In a paper con- 

 tributed by Mr. Buchan, at page 756,*hc very justly 

 observes, " the inhabitants of plant and fruit houses 

 require for their healthy development heat, air, light, 

 and moisture," by light I presume he means sun-light, 

 " the greater light that rules the day only," for by his 

 system of covering at night, he entirely excludes the 

 important and peculiar influences of " the lesser light 

 that rules the night"— and the stars also. Inquisitor, 

 Ite-pUce, Istwisham, Dec. I. [Which lesser light is 

 not of the slightest importance to plants that we 



know of.] 



Ice Stacks.— li E. J." has no great reason to complain 

 of the failure of his attempt to preserve ice, as detailed 

 at d. 758. He appears to have adopted the general 



idea of the system 1 described at p. 812 of your volume 

 for 1848 ; but to have departed from its essential prin- 

 ciple. For his information 1 will, as succinctly as pos- 

 sible, recapitulate the substance of the article above 

 alluded to. The position chosen for the ice stack at 

 experience of it I consider it superior to sheet glass in j Hatfield is the north side of an abruptly sloping 

 ^ri^L Ftat it contains a tinge of green that undrained bank. The ice is thoroughly pnlvens^and 

 I have not seen in an V other kind of glals, which plants the stack is compactly built up m a cornea form froma 



like sheet-glass, consequently there is no 



necessity i with 18 inches of dry Fern, and then thatched 



The thatch must rest exclusively on the ice 



for shading on that account; but when shade is necessary straw. , " j *„ «* ,v* f rt 



Z 8 o,he" 8 rS» M , it i. - much quired ,;Hh ™„ g h *^£3££££l!' 7, * w££ 



plate as-withimy other glut All the plants that I have prevent its snhsidence with the ice 



gro"" under rough plate possess a richer hue than the i b necessary -occasional, to Ti»t the « tac , to^ m 



EL hinds ,™S under 'sheet glas. , the,- ar. „ ? . a, .ha. *yf-£*- ^^^/..Thl' SSTi 



the bank, and servos as a slight protects to the 



grown _ 



sturdy in their habit, and blossom and fruit as freely 



under the former as under the latter. The light trans- ...~ — .-, - - otherwise 



mitted through rough plate is as powerful as " that body of ;ce when first built, £**•""£ ™^? 

 through 8 hee°t or erown glass; audit is of a better of great importance. It will I* seen ftwngj above, 

 quality than sheet glass gives, which can easily be ! that ,n the application of the V™^l?2tr2 V P>> 

 proved by means of some of the delicate vegetable 

 colours, such as those of the Red Poppy, or newly 



endeavour is made to exclude air and moisture. 



fell into error in placing roots and straw beneath the 



expanded flowers of the Franciscea uninora, placed on body of ice the moist air g^^J* *« r fi ^ 

 paper at a distance of 6 or 8 inches from the 2 lass in would inevitably conduce to ^ destru c ton ; 1 to hxe* 



^ ^ ..„ s .strong sunlight, or some metallic compounds maybe roof was also, in my "P^^ 1 ™ ^Jfstack 



£*■ Except by a long succession of seedlings, and used which a^ equally sensitive to the effect of light, of ice decreased ^ p \V» Jfjjj^ ^ to ^ t on the top 

 * en only when some seedling shows a marked variation I and caiteri* paribus. It will soon be seen by the effect I would be left, allowing a current ot air to on tne top 



