peee 19, 1874] LEHER" 
GARDENERS: 
CHRONICLE. 
781 
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s, including Postage to any 
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Post ba Gi ot exe siade payable to wvinhehal Heinkel; 
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Office, 45 Wellington Street, W.C. 
aussi 
Shrubs, Roses and Dutch Bulbs, gn 
ESDAY, Dec. 
an af Stevens’ Rooms. 
e—- 
TN continuation of our igo on the CON- 
t DITION of the TREES in HYDE PARK and 
M ENsINGTOM GARDENS "h "s89); we would first 
| tette our na 
ce poor i 
tt There are two very sufficient causes—the one is, 
round every fine tree, wherever there was room to 
ne a young, coarse-gro wing one has been inserted, 
ich, as it is more vigorous than the old trees, cuts out 
E otiy i poe ar mn _— for the roots of the older tree 
p find nourishmen' 
_ To this we ial exception. There are, it is 
tue, a few examples of this grouping or planting 
young plants round the old specimen trees, 
ut they are quite exceptional ; j nevertheless, 
orrespondent that it is 
ù practice that ought to be ace It isto a 
ertain ao jjetious to the tree to be so sur- 
founded ; but no one can pretend to say that 
these Ee Young trees, however coarse-growing they 
na y be, are the cause of the death of the fine 
id Elms in question. It is MM to all 
xperience for young Pp when 
planted in the vicinity oF f old-established ag 
Vere it not so it would be an easy matter 
putting in 
swer—it ‘dude be complete renewal. 
‘The phe cause of decay is that the roots have 
[Mia y üp all the space between the on th 
and the ur E clay, tae which many of 
; and thi held 
o 
s admits of some consideration. The top 
is undoubtedly exhausted by ible ed 
the subsoil ma may not, in many cas sabe gait 
le or suitable for the growth of t 
nnot pretend to 
any very T 
tance with it. We know that this tathis 
of various 
pared to admit much of its influence here, 
There is no evidence of this over-supply of 
water to the roots, excepting it may be in the 
hollow near to the Barracks, There is, on the 
other hand, abundant evidence of the great 
scarcity of water on the higher grounds where 
the trees seem in the worst condition, and where 
they seem to die the most rapidly. But assum- 
have 
grown so vigorously and to such a size for 
nearly 200 years before mecting their doom, and 
should now die off so rapidly; whilst others now 
meet the same fate in a very few years. But it 
is not so, the younger newly-planted trees do 
not die off so rapidly ; they may not be over 
vigorous, but, being tutored to dry hard living 
from the beginning, they will, like the mountain 
sheep or the seedling tree growing on the top 
of a wall, get used to it, and flourish. But upon 
these fine old trees, which have been grown in 
plenty, this dearth of food comes like a great 
or and they succumb in the manner we have 
se 
‘isa thank our correspondent for his sugges- 
tions, which we have noticed thus prominently 
doubtedly too far gone fo 
ects and the sooner these are removed 
e better į but surely something can be 
a ter, surely it could supplied to 
some extent. If young rubbishy plants are 
injuring specimen he let them be swep 
ay. This ought to be mere routine rral 
It seems to us, Esashi that some much m 
ecisive measures than these will have to i 
"E There appears to ‘a no alternative 
now—the case is far too desperate—but_com- 
niet re-planting and renewal. This will no 
doubt be an expensive process, but it is the 
only thing that can now be done if we wish to 
preserve the woodland character of Kensington 
Gardens. ion—-some 10 acres or so— 
pes 0 be trenched up, enclosed and planted 
very other year. Some definite plan of pro- 
cau with the whole place, and of gradually 
renewing and replanting the whole, might be 
and of course should be at once as t 
shoiild in the course of a few years have a 
colony of young trees again, and be able to 
maintain our West-end gardens in their pristine 
condition. 
A vast amount of public money is annually 
t parks and gardens, to 
keep them in their present highly-embellished 
condition. The countless thousands of showy 
bedding plants ann y planted out here are 
no doubt highly appreciated by many ; yet it 
seems to us that there is just getting a trifle too 
much of this garish splendour. What possibly 
could have been in worse taste than the dotting 
about of those Palms and other semi-tropical 
plants by the side of Rotten Row, as was done 
is at 
last season? The m money expended on this 
; would better devoted to the 
of the decay of many trees in 
the "ipus yet we are scarcely pre ' 
| much pè merg A = bestowed on ii 
money would be wanting or grudgingly bestowed 
by Government for such a laudable ep 
this, could they only aie i 
necessity of the case. Some steps hive’ we 
believe, been already taken—at least we had 
rumours of the appointment of a Committee 
of Inspection last year, which was to report on 
the condition of the trees, &c. But, whether 
this committee ever met or has made any 
report, we know not; probably, with the usual 
red-tapeism and circumlocution of official 
0 
trees as Hampstead Heath or Primrose Hill. 
to lose. 
present First Commissioner, w 
asa great patron of horticulture, signalise 
period of office by commencing t ia 
of the trees in Rensitigtor Ga 
be ably seconded and assisted by the present 
superintendent, Mr. GIBSON, jun. who 
both youth and strength on his sidey aided and 
guided also as he would be by the experience of 
our old friend, Mf. GIBSON, the maker of some 
of our mosen. London parks. 
—— RESPECTING the SUMBUL PLANT, Mr, Wosst, 
o the Ga 
from seed this year for the I sowed the 
ed last autumn in a dung-bed, ered them up 
with snow and li and treated thus they 
germinated freely in the spring.” After some other 
notes respecting its culture, he says :—*‘I am 
at the development of the first leaves, 
low. the cotyledon The formation of ts 
beneath the cotyledons is not infrequen! llis- 
arvensis, several species 
&e., a mh ate ie (lane 
i asters’ "Vegetable gi peres 
—— LUCULIA GRATISSIMA is gh we in flower 
conservatory at Kew. 
5 
should co 
a rich of à so o tick oaiiy, cont 
so distinct also from O 
For d 
wi found in 
ürhal. Although it may be grown mede" 3 
TE always best planted out, as is the speci- 
ahd in a where 
it is “ikely hn do w Some 
exper enced i its Ca 
ifficulty is 
a suita a ngs 
article on Matico; published in our 
sip e wegen to = A A AEIR of 
has 
Ina 
columns, the wri! 
pe we PET ae sO art (?) bes Sonne = 
E i Se y kno’ we canno 
in peg a s wine in this il a will be 
remembered by most of hapa apenes many 
years since some interes was 
ical profetica in 
