LONDON. . 505 



be mentioned a double-flowered Ulex Europaeus or furze- 

 bush. These nurseries are so well known, and so cele- 

 brated, that it seems needless farther to enlarge regarding 

 them. 



We next visited the Corntesse De Vande's garden at 

 Bayswater. It is a mere garden, without any dwelling- 

 house, and affords a proof of the Countess's great attach- 

 ment to plants. The excellence of the place depends en- 

 tirely on its possessing a copious collection of stove and 

 greenhouse rarities. It seemed rich in the Convolvula- 

 ceae ; and among these the Convolvulus bryoniaefolius and 

 Ipomcea Jalapa were now in flower. 



From thence we went to Kensington Gardens. The 

 greenhouse here is a very large, old structure, and the col- 

 lection it contains is extensive, but consists only of the 

 more common sorts of greenhouse plants. There are some 

 excellent houses for pine-apples and peaches. At this time 

 workmen were employed in erecting a steam apparatus 

 for heating the pine-stove, by conveying steam along cop- 

 per-pipes in front of the house. The boiler connected 

 with the pipes is also of copper. Although the peach- 

 houses are good, yet the trees, which have been in them 

 for several years, have not been successful. This has been 

 attributed to a damp bottom ; and, to remedy this fault, 

 they were now busy cutting large drains, at considerable 

 expence. This illustrates a too common error in erecting 

 hot-houses, and laying out gardens. The natural level of 

 the ground is taken, and, in making the borders, the sub- 

 soil is cut out, and its place supplied with garden mould, 

 in order to obtain a proper depth of suitable earth : whereas, 

 if the level of the hot-house or fruit-border was raised a 

 foot, or in some cases eighteen inches, above the natural soil, 

 by merely laying good earth over it, this would frequently 



