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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 30, 18«4. 



"EYES AND NO EYES." 

 I beg leave to thank you very much for the excellent 

 article on " The Education of the Eye," which appeared in 

 your Number of the 0th inst. I hope all the gardeners in 

 England have read it, or will read it. You have given us 

 various articles lately respecting the education of gardeners, 

 but let a gardener be as well educated as he may in other 

 points, if he has not an eye, he" is worth little or nothing. 



You will see one man sweep out his greenhouse, but he 

 never thinks of removing from the plants the yellow and de- 

 cayed leaves. Another man walks by a flower-bed day after 

 day, where half a dozen weeds stare him in the face, but he 

 sever stoops down to pluck them up. When a master who 

 has an eye in his head points out to his gardener these 

 same weeds and withered flowers, and suggests that the 

 greenhouse and the flower-bed would look better if such 

 eyesores were removed, what answer does he get? "Oh! 

 yes, sir, we shall get to them in a day or two." 



The meaning is plain. Most gardeners, even when they 

 have plenty of help, go through their work in a regular 

 circle like a horse in a mill, and so in part they ought to do ; 

 but meanwhile they should have their eyes open, and always, 

 every day, be doing a little here and a little there, just as 

 things happen to be wanted. A gardener ought to manage 

 his ground as a housemaid does her drawing-room : she 

 makes all things clean and right every morning, and then 

 in the afternoon walks through the room and puts it in 

 order. This is what a gardener should do with the place 

 he has to keep. If he does not, if he lets his pots be dirty 

 and green, if he allows decayed leaves to hang here, and 

 weeds to grow there, do not let him excuse himself by saying 

 he has not time. Such matters as I speak of take little or 

 no time. Indeed, attention to them will save time in the 

 long run. "What the man wants is, not time, but " an eye," 

 and to give a man an eye if he has not one is the hardest 

 thing in the world. I have taken endless trouble with men 

 for years, but all in vain. I sincerely hope that your article 

 may have better success. — A Man with an Ete. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The August Meeting of the Entomological Society was 

 fairly attended for the season of the year, the chair, in the 

 absence of the President, being occupied by the Rev. Hamlet 

 Clark, M.A., who communicated a valuable memoir on new 

 species of Water Beetles, belonging to the genus Hydaticus, 

 of Leach, from Australia, China, and the Gold Coast. 



A paper was also read by W. C. Hewitson, Esq., containing 

 descriptions of six new and beautiful exotic species of Butter- 

 flies from the northern parts of India and the! island of 

 Menado, Borneo. Another paper, by Mr. Baly, was also read, 

 containing descriptions of new exotic species of herbivorous 

 Beetles, belonging to the Calopepla and allied genera, pre- 

 ceded by some interesting observations on the geographical 

 distribution of these insects. 



Mr. Frederick Bond exhibited a specimen of Gelechia pin- 

 guinella, a small species of Moth, belonging to the family 

 Tineidffi, new to this country, which had been found on the 

 trunk of a Poplar tree near London ; also, Nyctegretes 

 Achatinella, one of our rarest Moths, of the family Phycida?, 

 captured by Mr. T. Brown near Yarmouth. 



Mr. McLaehlan exhibited a specimen of a Dragon Fly, 

 Libellula striolata, from the south of France, the longitu- 

 dinal veins of the wings of which, near the base, were dotted 

 with numerous scarlet points, which proved to be minute 

 Acari (Gamasus Libellula?), and it was suggested that these 

 parasites had occupied this position in order to obtain food 

 from the circulating fluid within the veins of the wing sur- 

 rounding the central air tubes of those organs. Mr. F. 

 Smith, however, stated that he had found Acari on the hard 

 horny bodies of Beetles and Bees, where they could not 

 obtain such kind of nourishment. 



Mr. J. J. Weir exhibited an albino variety of Eubolia bi- 

 punotaria, one of the Geometridas, taken on the Southdowns. 



Among the donations received since the last Meeting, were 

 the publications of the Royal and Zoological Societies of 

 London, the Royal Societies of Madrid, Moscow, Munich, 

 Stettin, &c. 



ME. B. S. WILLIAMS'S VICTORIA NURSERY, 



HOLLOWAY. 



Some three months ago our correspondent Mr. Earley 

 directed attention to the Victoria Nursery, which Mr. 

 Williams has formed at the foot of Highgate Hill, and we 

 have now the pleasure of presenting our readers with a 

 view of the interior of the simple but elegant conservatory 

 and show-house which has been constructed under Mr. 

 Williams's direction. 



This house is 105 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 20 high to 

 the ridge, the sides being about 10 feet in height. The 

 frontage to the road is light and of an architectural charac- 

 ter, there being six plate glass windows on each side of the 

 door, separated by columns, and surmounted by ironwork of 

 an ornamental vine-leaf pattern. As regards the general 

 aspect of the interior, our engraving, taken from a photo- 

 graph, will give the best idea. 



The floor is of Portland cement, the paths being marked 

 off by a simply moulded iron edging. The central pathway 

 is 7-Jfeet wide, and another crosses it at the middle of the 

 house; one of Pulham's terra-cotta fountains, planted with. 

 Ferns, being placed at the point of intersection. Another 

 path 5 feet wide leads all round, between which and the 

 glass is a slate platform. 



The roof, which is fixed, is supported by eighteen hollow 

 wooden columns and trussed with iron ; and ventilation is 

 effected by hinged sashes at the ridge worked by ropes and 

 pullies, and by side lights opening in the same manner. 

 For heating there are four flow and return four-inch pipes 

 running beneath the slate shelving and nearly on the same 

 level as the floor. 



The mode of shading adopted is worthy of notice, for, 

 unlike most conservatories, the tiffany which is employed is 

 placed inside instead of outside the glass. Near the ridge 

 there is a roller between every pair of rafters, on which the 

 tiffany, is wound; and attached to the lower edge of the 

 tiffany is a rod running in guides on the rafters. By pulling 

 a rope this rod readily descends, bringing the tiffany with 

 it ; and by means of a pulley, when the shading is no longer 

 wanted, the whole is wound up. 



We will now take a glance at the contents of the house. 

 On each side of the central path are ranged in match pairs 

 fine plants of Yucca aloifolia variegata, Cham»rops humilis, 

 Cibotium Schiedei, and Drac^na australis, two handsome 

 specimens of which, standing some 12 feet high, are con- 

 spicuous in our engraving. Then at the fountain, where 

 the main pathway and the cross-walk intersect, are two 

 plants of Dicksonia antarctica 6 feet high, one on each side ; 

 and occupying a similar position on the opposite side are 

 large specimens of Latania borbonica, backed with noble 

 specimens of Cyathea excelsa. Further on we come to a 

 remarkably fine Zamia Lehmanni, its singular scarred stem 

 3 feet in circumference ; Marattia elegans, with seven fronds 

 5 feet long ; and noble specimens of Cycas revoluta, Cyathea 

 dealbata, and Yucca Boerhavi, the last very ornamental and 

 tropical in its aspect. At the end of the walk is Cibotium 

 princeps, with fronds extending 12 feet across ; and two 

 fine trees of Araucaria excelsa, touching the roof, stand 

 sentry on each side of the door of the former residence of 

 Sir Richard Sutton, which constitutes the further extremity of 

 the conservatory. The splendid Indian Rhododendron Nut- 

 talli, which produced such a profusion of its immense white 

 and yellow sweet-scented flowers, and which was a conspicu- 

 ous object when the photograph was taken, is, of course, 

 now out of flower, but it may be observed figuring promi- 

 nently in our engraving. The plant was then 10 feet high 

 and 7 feet through, and had as many as ninety flowers on it 

 at one time. 



Along the side-shelves were ranged a large collection of 

 Agaves, Yuccas, Dasylirions, &c. Among thein were the 

 new Agave schidigera, the white cuticle of which appears as 

 if torn from the thick substance of the leaf; Yucca Stokesii 

 with large and showy foliage, the singular Australian Grass 

 tree, which Mr. Williams has several times exhibited during 

 this summer at the great metropolitan shows ; and in the 

 body of the house was Dasylirion acrotrichum with a flower- 

 spike standing 8 feet high. 



The other parts of the nursery are not yet completely 

 organised, for walks of increased width are to be made, 



