| 
3 
: 
. 
and one in particular, which is now 
Os aed canvas pms altering or r modiying it in 
is of the en we would 
THE 
JULY 25, 1874-] 
GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE, 
105 
e flycatcher continued very assiduously to supply 
ek, when 
plainly be heard in the h ouse. Ni ow, 
be an end of the stran 
sparrow (dun 
curious little petk. Everything now wen 
satisfactorily ; but a gentleman in the village Pe 
studied ornithology, jaa ite volume wa 
the Vatural History of Selborne, hearing of ia c owl 
was determined to Zo an pret 
ame et x 
at the time, hearing 
7 case I am not prepared to 
say ; but I do know that before the evening, by crying 
ttl + Spri had as much food as he required 
taken to him by a 
It is Generally kit that the thrush is a very affec- 
tionate bird, and I have seen a male in a cage rearing 
FIG. 
Some half-dozen of its own species at the same oan : 
living, has 
Te manner, during the past two seasons, Faa 
S. 
ge 
wee our friend witnessed this, he at bas liberated 
hedge-sparrow a WO ape edily commenced her old 
Work, to the evident annoyanc 
4 = tion—w e heard 
nt their scythes in the oe 
oia is the only instance which alg come under m 
distin ration of the cuckoo bein hree 
by DS Species in the nest; but I have heard it said 
-Catchers (who ar en ave 
Jet they are tho 
cuckoo bas orough 
y 
facts e this spotty 
Welcome, summer visitant. 2. 
gees At pee 
yards of the Côte d’ t 
oy, the rich agricultural district asin, fl ie 
Apennines, the „pictural mountain scenery 
Bologn and the marv siecle ‘bal 
gna and Pistoia, 
plain in which the last- named city, as 
wellas Florence 
itself, is situate, en r 
sand Olives ‘and clustering Roses—villa after 
byas an 
illa asrig 
a country — would. be, and, indeed, at 
Thes ae walls, 
UE a ee ire rat r privacy on the 
r and-by, how 
mon — "r 
om e go on, steadily iid 
oe: of i, "Roses to left of us, Roses 
d . 
Olives alternating w 
cornfields and the fields of Lup abun 
Poppies in an English Wheat field, ‘are a ss pen 
24.—A TUSCAN LABOURER’S COTTAGE, 
rises (Iris germani ica). The true Florentine Iris (I. 
periei is apparently not oa Seini or 
flo 
ell- Or 
way, the Lili jes Lot Fritice di are not Lilies, b 
It looks sacrilegious to uproot Rieke “oa fallacies, but 
th and we nce and 
oesy. mg 
Gladiolus aaam wit 
wers ; the e in a Mist, Nigel I 
enus’ Lo eha and here, is Scilla cin- 
thoides, we th oug 
s son more f e Š llow 
tus. ite Cerastium, and "trong smelling ages 
stately Apoie, and Antheri it 
purple flowe d tches with a flowers, 
are to be found here, as hids in 
fo and colour new and ge to northern 
yes, though one familiar oa Serapias es 
took us for doctors, a t his tongue 
cordingly. Here, too, is the grand Lizard Orchis, 
so rare on our Kentish downs. this time we are 
slowly ascending and winding i -out and around 
e dome-shaped Olive-clad hills. What geological 
roduced so ere 
Truly does Byron say, speaking of Florence :— 
= ok by her theatre of hills sh 
Her corn, and wine, and oi 
„To laughing life with 
i, and Pi if Plenty Ips 
egg ago the rival of Florence, but given up now 
to handful of straw-plait 
mes—times that Livy 
out—are here in abundant ce, side Šg side with 
the pnan. nd churches of the Middle 
The monastery is quaint and dreary, with real live 
which has been seen here in E i 
pa mony days, but real, dirty, a rege. n ae 
mo epg which few would o see 
imitated, chi er Italy or efitr re. “The v an 
from the terr. paid ag front this monaste 
ul for d wen pee it t mast sf sioe to 
say that the diams of all this 
gular blending of the fare we wor sga atu 
handicraft of man. w that the writer has seen 
seems to suit the seule of = tem 
Lord as this does. The m 
obab d 
fuecestively and poetically y rather than rally, the 
Lt Fiésole might well s the scene, 
e been str i k “the me idea for 
ieoiedtogi to the guide book there is in one of the many 
churches in the neighbourhoo esco represent- 
ing the angels ministering to Chri je in the wilder- 
ness. t 
-he 
i used, as 
ears, as landmarks an The hill 
slopes are less highly cultivated, and the whole aspect 
of things is more like that which Salvator Rosa loved 
to geet 
The straw- ome ata followed at Fiésole, how. 
ever, i “te interesting to be dismissed 
tice, spi $ a h 
en Sl 
elegant description is herr 
Florence, and a great deal o 
of Fiésole. The straws are exce edingly slender and 
hort, and are woven into various patterns i 
ooa straws being re ing pliant by soaking in —— 
A peculiar dwarf kin Wheat i ily said to fu 
straw, but though it sine obvious grown in wet 
siderable quantities, we were not fortunate enough to 
see it saye in process of manufactu 
VILLA FENZI. ie a distance of some eight or 
ten miles from Florence, in a different henge from 
Fiésole, is situate the: patriarchal hom which we 
wp e to devote a few words. Tt R placed on 
the hia of one of the myriad hills already alluded 
su 
icing country, which is thick ed 
irecti ith white e residences of the 
and! and of their tenantry, ho a 
mostly separate ; villages in our sen 
being rare. Access t 
through od of Beech and Pines, and a noble Elm 
tree, one of the finest trees we saw anywhere in Italy, 
ards the hall door. Bordering the carriage-drive, 
in suitable situations, are placed various species of 
Bamboos, which one i rised to s ivi 
is sur 
well in ‘a dry a situation. 
ut 
Ireland, perhaps even i A 
also constitute a tabi garden, the sunny 
rocky slopes ch appear to suit them well 
at Florence two of the m able 
were the nor Bamboo and the pkgs exhibited by 
Signor E. ie! 
On th e terrace in front of the mansion 
nt: ses to 
ful, and e least allows o e cultivation of the plants 
in question in s Fim would otherwise be 
im i 
