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several winters, as a bush, in the open ground of the Kensington nursery ; so that 
we might almost have been justified in placing it among the hardy shrubs." 
Opuntia vulgaris, which is commonly kept in the stove, " is a native of North 
America, in the southern states, and is found abundantly in gardens in the neigh- 
bourhood of New York. It is also very common in Italy, and various parts in 
the south of Europe. In Virginia it is valued for its refreshing fruit, and it has 
been cultivated for the same purpose on dry rockwork, in the neighbourhood of 
London. It will live many years, with little or no protection, at the bottom of a 
dry warm wall ; and, though usually prostrate, yet, if the shoots are nailed to the 
wall, it will grow to the height of several feet. It deserves a place in a collection 
of half-hardy, ligneous, succulent, plants, for the sake of its singular appearance ; 
and various other genera and species belonging to the same order are, probably, 
nearly as hardy." 
So, also, the species of Mesembryanthemum are very easily cultivated in the 
open border : — 
" Most of them are natives of dry sandy soils at the Cape of Good Hope, and 
in other parts of Africa ; and many of them will live through the winter on rock- 
work in the neighbourhood of London, if protected with dry litter. "When they 
can be preserved through the winter, they make a splendid appearance in the 
summer, with their brilliant flowers of scarlet, yellow, purple, or white. Several 
species have stood through the winter, without any protection, on the rockwork of 
the Chelsea Botanic Garden ; and a number of sorts were, till lately, preserved in 
a cold pit in the garden of the Horticultural Society." 
We might multiply quotations of this and other descriptions to an almost 
endless extent, and descant, moreover, on the admirable plans for an Ericacetum ; 
the excellent woodcut illustrations of the effects of weeping willows, poplars, &c, 
on scenery ; the usefulness of the figures — exactly the natural size — of leaves 
belonging to all the species of every large genus ; and the other woodcuts- 
amounting to more than 2500 — of the most interesting species in the remaining 
genera ; together with the four volumes of plates of entire trees, the valuable 
introductory matter, and the figures and descriptive notices of destructive insects ; 
but we hope we have already said enough to impel all who admire and study trees, 
or cultivate them in any way or for any purpose, to add the Arboretum et Fruti- 
cetum Britannicum to their library, as comprising in itself a complete cyclopaedia 
of Arboriculture. Highly as we have spoken of the masterly manner in which it 
has been prepared, we have not done so unguardedly. It is both an entertaining 
and a profitable work. Many parts of it are well adapted for general reading, 
while it must ever be esteemed as a standard of reference. In short, it may be 
said of this book, what few others are entitled to, that no desideratum within the 
author's reach is left unsupplied; and, considering its latitudinarian scope, not a 
single page could well be omitted. 
