454 Domestic Notices : — England. 



the trunk of which is now about a foot in diameter, which is growing out of 

 the heart of the trunk of a cherry tree, which, though only alive in the outer 

 rim, still continues to grow and increase. Near this is an immense Oriental 

 plane, which last year ripened its seeds. It is to be regretted that nursery- 

 men continue to neglect this beautiful and very hardy tree, preferring that 

 comparatively worthless one the Occidental plane, because it strikes more 

 readily by cuttings. Magnoh'a macrophylla has this year produced some 

 dozens of flowers ; but the fine specimen of Quercus virens that we figured 

 is dead. The walk from the Horticultural Society's garden to the orna- 

 mental grounds of the duke's villa passes through His Grace's kitchen- 

 garden, the surrounding walls of which, we observed, were crowned or rather 

 coped with a row of plants of /Vis germanica. A gutter, lined with Roman 

 cement, we were informed, was made along the top of the wall to retain the 

 soil in which the plants are planted, and they are watered occasionally. This 

 taste, being that of a duke, will of course be admired ; but, notwithstanding the 

 very great respect which we have for the Duke of Devonshire as an extremely 

 liberal and kind-hearted man, we cannot bring ourselves to look with pleasure 

 on aquatic plants placed in such a position. If a fringe of flowers were to 

 be placed there, -Erysimum Perowski«WM?7z, wallflowers, iberis, snapdragons, 

 pinks, and a host of evergreen Cruciferae, Labiatae, Caryophylleae, &c., that 

 would have kept up a bloom throughout the summer, might have been 

 employed. Nevertheless, the Duke of Devonshire, as well as every othe 

 individual, has a right to indulge in his own particular taste; but when we 

 express our admiration of one part of a residence or scene, we may be per- 

 mitted also to mention those parts of it of which we cannot approve. 

 One advantage of covering the top of a wall with irises is, that they will not 

 shed their seeds on the grounds below, which cannot be said of the flora of 

 the wall tops of some kitchen-gardens and even botanic gardens : Kew, for 

 example, as it used to he. 



The second Exhibition of the Royal Botanic Society in the Kegent's Park, on 

 June 28., was still better attended than the first, and it is gratifying to find 

 that these exhibitions are bringing forward a new class of visitors altogether 

 to garden exhibitions, viz. families who can spare an hour or two to go to a 

 place within a ride of a iev/ minutes, or a short walk of their residence, who 

 could not spare a day and the expense of a carriage of some kind during the 

 whole day, to go to Turnham Green. The mount in these gardens is a great 

 attraction, and the natural arrangement of herbaceous plants will soon become 

 exceedingly interesting. When the winter garden is once completed, the attrac- 

 tion, for that season, will probably surpass that of every thing of the kind in 

 the neighbourhood of London. 



Keiu Gardens, since they have been put under the direction of Sir W. 

 Hooker, have undergone very great improvements, which fully justify the 

 government in having employed that enthusiastic botanist and active-minded 

 accomplished man. The wall which separated the botanic garden from the 

 pleasure-ground has been thrown down, so as to admit views to glades among 

 the trees and shrubs ; some new houses have been built, and others have 

 been altered and greatly improved. The araucaria has been relieved from the 

 brick parapet that surrounded it, and several cart-loads of suitable soil have 

 been placed at the extremities of the roots, and the whole turfed over. We 

 should have preferred omitting the turf, and mulching the ground as far as 

 the roots extended, and a little further, with the leaves of pines and firs, in 

 order the more readily to admit the air and rain to the roots, and supply 

 them with the saline ingredients common to the Coniferae. Pines and firs in 

 a state of nature always destroy the grass and other herbaceous plants that 

 spring up under the shade of their lower branches, but unfortunately this 

 tree has lost its lower branches, and therefore requires the aid of art to do 

 what they would have done. We were much gratified to observe a very 

 complete collection of British plants arranged according to the natural 



