House for Neio Holland Plants. 2 1 



introduced into this country, in my humble opinion, and which 

 generally come into flower at a very convenient season of the 

 year; but, indeed, there is always something new and interestino- 

 amongst such a noble collection of plants as there is in the New 

 Holland House at Bicton gardens. If charcoal and charcoal 

 dust have made more improvement in one tribe of plants than 

 another, it -is amongst them. They have all of them charcoal 

 about them ; and it is a pleasure, when potting them, to see the 

 fine roots they make amongst it. This house has a noble span 

 roof, and of the same dimensions, and fitted up in the same 

 manner, as the heath-house, with a Portland stone walk be- 

 tween the stone platform in the centre and the shelves, which 

 go all round. As you took particular notice of my system of 

 potting and training these plants, I will leave you to give a 

 description of them. There is one most remarkable plant, 

 Chorozema varium, amongst many others which I forgot to 

 show you ; it is out of doors, and too large to be got into any 

 house this season, therefore I intend leaving it out of doors for 

 the present, and sheltering it a little, to try if it will do out. It 

 will astonish every one but those that have seen it, when they are 

 told that this time two years it was a plant in a 32-pot, what is 

 called in Devonshire a penny pot; it is now in a 4-shilling pot. 

 It is only 3 ft. 6 in. high, and is 32 ft. in circumference, with 

 many thousands of shoots, all set with flowers from top to 

 bottom; the shoots are so thick that you cannot see whether the 

 plant is in a pot or turned out into the ground, for the branches 

 cover the grass turf all round, like a large rhododendron. But 

 it will be asked what made it grow so wonderfully. Why, char- 

 coal, loam, a little heath mould, some large stones, and a small 

 quantity of river sand ; and, by continually stopping the shoots, 

 I made it so thick and dwarfish. I will give you another in- 

 stance of the extraordinary effect charcoal has produced on an- 

 other very valuable plant, Lechenault/a biloba, which has been 

 said by many cultivators of plants to be a bad ugly grower. Now 

 this plant, which I am going to describe, is about two years old, 

 from a cutting ; it is now in a No. 2. pot, is 1 ft. 3 in. high, 

 covering the rim of the pot, and 7 ft. 9 in. in circumference, thick 

 with shoots, as I have seen fine plants of L. formosa at the exhi- 

 bitions about London. I have counted 500 blooms open on the 

 plant all at one time. If there is one plant in the house more 

 beautiful than another, it is this plant. If 100^. were offered for 

 a fellow plant to it, it could not be got. The gentleman that 

 was with you asked what caused this plant to make such extra- 

 ordinary progress. Why, charcoal. It has nothing but char- 

 coal, stones, a little sand, and some heath mould, all jumbled 

 together in lumps as large as bricks broken into about six or 

 eight pieces. There is also Pimelea decussata, which I have 



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