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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



have spread in breadth and are irregularly branched, thus forming 

 most ungraceful objects. It is only my extreme reluctance to do 

 away with any plant that allows them to occupy such a prominent 

 place. I can only suppose that their bad growth is to be attributed 

 to the fact of their thin roots being incapable of pushing their way 

 through the somewhat heavy clayey ground they will have found 

 beyond the good imported soil they were originally planted in. 



Following the Taxodiums are a dozen Prunus Pissardi, their red 

 leaves contrasting well with the light green of the former, as well as 

 with the small wood of oaks, which were almost the only plants I 

 found upon the island. They also have profited by the improved soil 

 all round, and in several places they have asserted their right of 

 precedence, by enjoying the freshly introduced manure and good earth 

 and strangling the newly planted plants intended to grow amongst 

 them. They are now mostly portly subjects, and compensate well for 

 their occasional egotism by delighting us with some delicious mush- 

 rooms {Boletus edulis) as large as ladies' hats, which grow freely 

 under their protection. 



Having reached this particular spot on the island, I am bound 

 to describe another of its peculiarities, which is formed by a quaint 

 kitchen garden, placed in a unique position — that is to say, within 

 the walls of a half crumbled down establishment, built absolutely in the 

 water on the submerged cliffs. 



These dismantled walls rise 26| feet above the water, while inside 

 they measure only 9 feet in height, the difference being made up of 

 pure sand. I had the southern side of the walls lowered to 3 feet, so 

 that the whole surface of this kitchen garden, measuring 114 feet by 

 51 feet and forming an oblong area with a total of 6814 square feet, 

 is well protected against the cold northern winds and at the same time 

 exposed to the full sun, thus forming an ideal kitchen garden. The 

 walls facing south have arrangements for protecting lemons and early 

 peach trees. In the middle a reservoir has been built, into which 

 the water is pumped from the lake by a good strong pump. This 

 small surface of ground, laid out and cultivated on a rotation system, 

 yields sufficient vegetables of the choicer and earlier qualities for our 

 own table, and the remainder are procured elsewhere. 



The ground of this now exceptionally good little garden consisted 

 in the beginning of almost pure sand, and when I told the gardener 

 that I intended cultivating vegetables in it he refused to do so and had 

 to be dismissed, though not only for this. Being only accustomed to 

 the diminutive gardens along the shore, he could not make up his 

 mind to my transforming the whole place into pleasure grounds : 

 planting only ornamental trees and shrubs, instead of vines and 

 potatos, was, according to his idea, equivalent to nursing a white 

 elephant. And so we parted, more to my satisfaction than to his. 



In consequence of this I had myself to go and work there person- 

 ally, also directing a couple of good workmen, and, with the help of 

 plenty of manure, produced even in the first year, amongst other 



