Conservatories. 29 



closely observing the different questions asked in the Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle at times during this last year. I think the 

 first question which I saw answered by Dr. Lindley was to 

 this effect : that it had no other good qualities but to serve 

 as a substitute for other things to keep the soil porous. I 

 have lately seen another answer : that the chemists have not 

 yet come to a decision respecting the properties of char- 

 coal. Now I am neither chemist nor scholar, but I think I 

 can one day soon explain the different properties of charcoal and 

 of manured water, and, I flatter myself, to the satisfaction and 

 benefit of many ; and I hope too to live to explain some 

 more things which will not only be startling to many, but, I 

 trust, a lasting benefit. But I must hasten to a conclusion, 

 and caution any one from using these manures before he 

 understands the properties of them. I give all my plants 

 manured water at times. Did you smell any thing, in 

 either house or pits, unpleasant? did you see anything un- 

 sightly or disagreeable ? did you see one plant out of ten 

 thousand unhealthy ? did you see one plant that could not 

 breathe, if they stood ever so thick ? How is all this large col- 

 lection kept free from disease and vermin ? I will tell you some 

 day, if it pleases God to spare my life. You know there are 

 diseases of many kinds, and vermin of all sorts, to which every 

 plant is subject in its natural state. You also hear of blights, 

 and all kinds of cures are recommended for these things ; but I 

 think that the best cure is a preventive. I do not use blue 

 vitriol in manured liquid to keep the smell away, nor any kind 

 of poisonous drugs to kill vermin and cure diseases. We see 

 the rain, the snow, and the hail descend, but it is all pure : we 

 hear the wind blow, and it is healthy : why should we act in 

 opposition to nature ? I hope to live to see things and persons 

 better understood ; not so much deception and jealousy, but 

 more brotherly love, and readiness to assist one another. 

 Bicton Gardens, Oct. 1. 1842. 



Letter VII. TJie Conservatories, and List of Plants in them. TJie Orchideoiis 

 Houses and Stoves. Lists ofOrchidece and of other Stove Plants. 



I SHALL this evening give you a short description, accord- 

 ing to your wish, of the two Conservatories, one on each side 

 of the temple which you so much admired, as you did also the 

 beautiful fountain of water, and an obelisk at a short distance, 

 both in a line with the centre of the temple. The obelisk was 

 built by Henry, first Lord Rolle, in the year 1743, and serves as 

 a landmark for vessels at sea. You desired me to give you 

 some particulars of a very large Escallonm montevidensis that 

 is now in full bloom with its beautiful racemes of flowers, the 



