38 Report on rare or select Articles 



seen, and certainly in point of keeping it cannot be surpassed. We have not, 

 however, seen the nurseries of Mr. Skirving of Liverpool, or Messrs. Dick- 

 son of Chester, for the last ten years ; and they may probably be, as indeed 

 we have heard that they are, laid out with as much care as the Mount Eadford 

 nursery. The latter has the great advantage of being all laid out at once, 

 unfettered by existing objects, or by being leasehold. We have heard that 

 this was also the case with the ground lately taken possession of by Messrs. 

 Dickson of Chester. 



The dwelling-house of Mr. Veitch, sen., is one of the most remarkable 

 features in the Mount Radford Nursery, and, in our opinion, does Mr. Veitch 

 very great credit. It is not every one who makes a fortune by business that 

 possesses the much higher quality, after having made a fortune, of living like 

 a gentleman. We could mention several nurserymen, now no more, who had 

 made perhaps larger fortunes than Mr. Veitch, but who, after having done so, 

 had not the art of elegantly enjoying them. Mr. Veilch's house is in the 

 Elizabethan style, elegant in design externally, and replete with every com- 

 fort and luxury within that any reasonable man could desire. It is surrounded 

 by a portion of lawn laid out somewhat in the Elizabethan manner, but in 

 which that style is not so fully developed as it is in the house. 



From Messrs. Veitch's nursery are known to have been figured a nuinber 

 of rare plants, including Echites splendens, E. atropurpurea, Rondeletia 

 longiflora, LechenaultM biloba, Gesnerra zebrina, Manettia blcolor, Begon/a 

 coccinea, and, in the very last published periodicals, Tropse^olum azureum, the 

 beautiful blue nasturtium, so long a desideratum. They have a collector in 

 South America, who has lately sent them some bushels of seeds of Araucaria 

 imbricata, from which they have already raised thousands of plants, so that 

 this fine tree will soon be as common as the cedar of Lebanon. As Messrs. 

 Veitch and Son have at present the care of the arboretum at Bicton, and are 

 rendering it as complete as possible, by collecting hardy trees and shrubs from 

 every part of England and from the Continent, they will be able to form a 

 very complete arboretum in their own nursery ; and we trust they will 

 do so. 



The general Nursery Stock of Messrs. Veitch and Son includes many thou- 

 sands of admirably grown young forest trees, innumerable ornamental trees 

 and shrubs in pots, fruit trees of every description, trained trees an extensive 

 collection, pines, and even pine-apples. In a word, nothing that can be ex- 

 pected from a nursery is wanting in this establishment. No man in the pro- 

 fession of gardener or nurseryman was more respected than the late Mr. John 

 Veitch, who founded this family and nursery ; and his descendants show them- 

 selves worthy of such a parent. 



Summerland and Citi/ Nursery, Exeter ; C. Sclater and Son. Sept. 30. 1842. — 

 The grounds are of considerable extent, and remarkably well, as it appeared to 

 us, furnished with fruit trees. Mr. Sclater, jun., informed us that they have 

 a very extensive collection of hardy fruits, with specimen plants of each kind 

 bordering the walks. They have a new kind of grape from America, pro- 

 ducing a very fine fruit with peculiarly agreeable flavour, and a most powerful 

 perfume. They have some superb kinds of raspberries, and a great many 

 articles from America, received through the kindness of Major Knox of 

 Lindridge. Among these is a potato which may be said to produce two 

 crops a year, as, when the first-formed tubers are taken away early in summer, 

 a second set is produced late in autumn. This, however, is an old practice, 

 both in Scotland and Lancashire. This potato is so prolific that Mr. Sclater 

 thinks it will produce 3 cwt. per square yard, which is 33 tons per acre ! 

 Among the hardy trees and shrubs we noticed various good articles : Mah6n2a 

 -4quif61ium, with extraordinary large foliage and fruit ; Andromeda floribunda, 

 large specimens ; large plants of /4'rbutus procera, A. Jndrachne, A. tomen- 

 tosa, &c., new unnamed kind from America; Gleditschza horrida 15ft. high, 

 and 3 ft. in circumference, a very singular object, from the number and large- 



