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JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 26, 1872. 



jug to a small tree of Zephirin Gregoire, Mr. Rust said he 

 considered it to possess the finest flavour of any Pear known 

 to him. Its medium-sized roundish fruit is in season during 

 November and December, and is then very highly flavoured, 

 rich, and juicy. The crops of vegetables were apparently 

 abundant and good. Most of the forward Potatoes were housed ; 

 Royal Ashleaf is much liked here, so is Paterson's Victoria. 

 Too much cannot be said in favour of this excellent Potato; 

 coming into use early in summer, it retains its high qualities 

 in full perfection throughout the season, and I know by actual 

 experience that when other so-called late-keeping kinds are 

 comparatively valueless late in spring, Victoria continues good. 



Fruit plantations are gradually being established outside the 

 walls, and due attention has been given to affording the neces- 

 sary shelter by planting a belt of tall-growing trees outside. 

 An orchard of flourishing young fruit trees was a curiosity, 

 from the fact that during the life of one man it has been suc- 

 cessively a corn field, a Larch plantation, and is now, as I saw 

 it, an orchard just coming into bearing. That the Larches 

 were not mere poles when cut is evident from their trunks 

 being usedfor " sleepers " in the construction of a railway near 

 at hand. 



Not far from the village entrance to the park, among a grove 

 of Pines and Larches of an extraordinary height, are the famous 

 Eridge Rocks. These mighty masses of sandstone are wonder- 

 ful, for they stand there in dignity with their wave-worn sides 

 bearing sure token of the work of denudation that must have 

 occurred many thousands of years ago. The form and aspect 

 of the rocks, though varied, is always picturesque ; at some 

 parts a huge mass may be seen projecting from the summit in 

 the form of a canopy, at others the perpendicular sides are 

 beautifully covered with fretwork, while the outline is some- 

 times angular, sometimes describing a wide-sweeping semi- 

 circle, but almost always springs perpendicularly from the walk 

 that winds around the base. Altogether they form one of the 

 most singular and interesting features of the Wealden forma- 

 tion. — EDWABD LUCKHOKST. 



THE PURPLE-LEAVED BIRCH. 



On the 5th of last June, whilst going through the horticul- 

 tural exhibition at Orleans as one of the party of judges, the 

 attention of myself and of my companions was drawn to a 

 number of shrubs consisting of forty plants all of one species, 

 which were almost hidden in the recess of a somewhat dark- 

 some corner. It required but a moment's contemplation to 

 suable us to grasp the full importance of the remarkable plant, 

 which was, without doubt, the chief object of interest in the 

 exhibition. It was a very beautiful variety of the common 

 white Birch (Betula alba), but the leaves were completely 

 purple or purple-black, like those specimens of the Beech so 

 often seen in our parks. Here was, indeed, a real discovery, 

 and a golden medal was with one accord awarded to it. 



The purple Birch, which I will for the present call Betula 

 vulgaris purpurea, has been obtained by chance by an old 

 hand of the firm of Transon Brothers, named Dubois, from a 

 sowing of the ordinary Birch. He very soon observed the un- 

 accustomed appearance of the plant, and after having raised 

 it he took grafts therefrom, and placed them on young stocks 

 of the common variety, and afterwards put them in pots. At 

 the present time he is said to have a stock of altogether more 

 than sixty plants of very fair strength, and ranging from one 

 to two years of age. We have counted forty at the exhibition, 

 •which varied from 2A inches to 5 feet in height or even more. 

 There can be little" doubt but that the fortunate discoverer 

 possesses in them a small fortune. Everything goes to 

 strengthen the belief that the inflorescence of the purple Birch 

 presents no floral character by which it can be distinguished 

 from the variety which is so common in our woods. More- 

 over, according to the opinion of modern botanists, central 

 Europe has but one species (B. alba.L. B. ; a. vulgaris, Spdeh), 

 seeing that it is now the general idea to regard the B. pu- 

 bescens of Ehrhart as merely a simple variety. Likewise 

 M. Regel, in his monograph of the Betulacefe, and the Pro- 

 dromus, joined to B. alba as sub-species those forms which all 

 botanists until this time held to be simply specific. It is thus 

 that B. verrucosa, Ehr. (Europe and Asia) ; B. populifolia, 

 Wild. (North America) ; B. mandschurica, JRgl. ; B. latifolia, 

 Tausch. (Asia) ; B. occidentalis, Hooker, and B. papyrifera, 

 Mich. (North America) ; B. pubeseens, Ehr. (Europe, Asia, 

 America) ; B. tortuosa, Lcileb. (Russia) ; B. excelsa, are only 

 in the eyes of M. Regel forms of B. alba. We are unable to 



agree with this view, in spite of the authority of this learned 

 botanist, whom an over-synthetical mind has in this case in- 

 duced to combine forms entirely different in growth, apparent 

 character, habitat, &a. This insinuation cannot be made 

 against us if we attribute the purple Birch to the ordinary 

 Birch from which it is most certainly sprung. 



It will be a great acquisition for our parks, and may be most 

 advantageously associated with the purple Beeches, the habit 

 of which is quite different. It succeeds in the poorest soils, at 

 the same time preserving all the strength and rural beauty of 

 the original type. In fact, for us the purple Birch is the 

 genuine victory of 1872 as regards out-of-door ornamental 

 trees. — Ed. Andre (in L'lllustration Horticole). 



THE NEW FLOWER MARKET, COVENT GARDEN. 



One of the most pleasing pieces of street architecture that 

 has of late been erected is the front to the new flower market, 

 Covent Garden. There is in it nothing particularly striking 

 in the way of originality of design, but there is an absence of 

 that affected quaintness which finds such apt interpretation 

 in the hands of some of the violent Gothic men of the present 

 time. To say that the great merit attaching to the main front 

 is the boldness of its lines is to indicate its exception to the 

 prevailing fashion of the day, which is either to destroy all 

 repose and create confusion by overloaded rococo work, or to 

 disgust by the absurd and idiotic employment of the worst 

 features of the worst period of mediaeval architecture, wrought 

 out at the hands of probably the worst exponents of the style 

 that the age has seen. 



The new flower market runs east and west adjoining Tavis- 

 tock Street, and the main entrance is in Wellington Street, 

 Strand. The eastern elevation is divided into three bays, by 

 bold and well-proportioned openings, with semicircular arches. 

 The archivolts are of red terra-eotta — the outer face entirely 

 so, the inner face with the voussoirs alternated by stone. Each 

 arch has a projecting keystone, the centre one ornamented by 

 a crown and the initial B ; above these arches is the cornice — 

 the bed-mould and medallion trusses of red terra-eotta, the 

 corona of stone. In front of each truss is a carved Acanthus 

 leaf, and between each a sunk square panel ; the elevation is 

 terminated by a balustrade of stone, and, strange to relate, the 

 balusters are of good profile. The spandrels of the arches and 

 the piers are faced with white bricks, and in front of the build- 

 ing there is an iron railing of good design. The ironwork 

 inside is especially worthy of notice for its excellent detail, 

 and too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the structure as 

 a whole, which is characterised by fine and bold proportion, 

 and carefully thought-out detail, honest and good construction, 

 and is one that is in every respect creditable to the architect, 

 whom we believe to be Mr. R gers, of the firm of Messrs. Cubitt, 

 by which firm the work has been carried out. — W. W. — (Build- 

 ing News.) 



THE . ROCKERY. 



(Continued from page 205.) 

 Assuming, therefore, that whatever is necessary — a pile of 

 irregular stonework or a heap of earth — has been prepared, 

 we must next consider what class of plants will be the most 

 suitable to clothe it with. Tastes differ widely ; some persons, 

 anxious to cover the rockwork as quickly as possible, do not 

 object to only a small number of plants being employed, while ' 

 others like to see the whole as interesting as possible, and 

 therefore wish to avoid all rampant coarse-growing subjects, 

 their object being to have a collection that will bear close 

 inspection, and in which each plant will deserve examination — 

 in short, they desire to have a rockery which shall require and 

 deserve a careful survey, and which will elicit from whoever 

 may inspect it a compliment as to its highly interesting and 

 instructive character. The two views of the matter just stated 

 have each then- advocates. Seen at a distance, I am not sure 

 but the first-described mode is the better, as very few plants, 

 or rather species of plants, serve to please the eye at a dis- 

 tance, or where the object is so placed as to render it likely to 

 be hurriedly passed by ; but where the rockwork is so situated 

 as to invite close inspection, let the planting be so managed as 

 to present the greatest variety that can be secured of plants 

 having a neat appearance at all times, especially such as are 

 of humble growth. The many interesting plants now in our 

 herbaceous lists allow of this being done without much trouble, 

 and a little care in the choice of sites suitable to each will 



