^ 
illustrative sketches, whicli are fm-uislied by Mr. H. Noel Humphi-eys : — " Wlien last in Paris," wi-ites 
Mr. Humplu-eys, " I was much struck with a beautiful effect produced by plants placed outside the 
rich ii'on balustrade of a principal staircase, at the hotel of the Count Auguste de B . In 
that instance, the pots containing the plants were lodged in cu-cular loops of iron, connected by a strong 
bar fixed fii'mly to the exterior of the staircase, at and between each loop. By this inexpensive means 
I I the odom, the freshness, and the floral beauty of the 
plants accompanied the visitor to the very door of the 
principal saloon, without encumbering the staii-case, or 
encroaching in any way on the space devoted to free 
ingress and egress, which is seldom, in modern build- 
ings, sufficiently spacious to bear cui'tailment. Geraniums 
grown in the pyramidal form would be pecuhaily suited 
to place in such a situation, as their height would bring 
them above the balustrade, and leave theu- best flowering- 
portion to the unimpeded view of the visitor, while a 
plant grown in a lower form would not possess this ad- 
vantage. But instead of the non loops, which can only 
be regarded as a cheap temporary contrivance, I would 
suggest a more decorative, and at the same time more 
permanent mode of placing flowering plants outside the 
balustrade of a stau-case, and, at the same time, one 
which might be made subservient to other pm-poses. I pro- 
pose maldng the principal moulding beneath the exterior 
of the balustrade jut out 
i'KDESTAi.. at certain distances, and 
by describing three-fourths of a projecting circle, form a series of brac- 
kets, upon which ornamental vases containing plants might be placed. 
Thus, on other occasions, when a profusion of light might be more de- 
su'able than flowers, bronze candelabra, each smmounted by a single 
light, with a ground glass globe, might be substituted for the vases 
containing flowers, or they might alternate with them, which would 
produce a very rich and pleasing effect. In the accompanying sketch I 
have shown the Geraniums placed upon the cii'calar brackets as de- 
scribed, and, in the hall beneath, I have arranged a row of vases, 
exactly beneath the Geraniums, which I suppose to contain finely- 
formed Hydi-angeas, grown with a single stem Kke the Geraniums, but 
with bushy round tops, in the orange-h'ee form, to contrast with the 
pyramidal figm'e of the plants above. Between each Hydrangea I 
would place a climbing-plant, neatly ti-ained to a tall rod ; they might 
be IMam-andya Barclayana, Thunbergias, or Loasa lateritia ; but they 
should be all the same, and very trimly trained, as this si/mme(rical 
repetition is necessaiy wherever irregular fomis have to be grouped 
with architectiu-e." 
In a futiu'e paper the management of pyramidal Pelargoniums will be explained ; and accompanied 
by Illustrations of their application to Garden Terraces, with some practical suggestions by Mr. 
Humphreys.] , 
ItUDItlD. 
A Fackct of Seeds saved hj an Old Gardener. London : 
Chapman & Hall, 1850 ; pp. 48. 
This is a strange title for a verj', odd book, wiitten in 
a quaint style, and pm-porting to be a history of the 
\'icissitudes of the son of a di-unken parent, whose 
chequered progress as a gardener is depicted from the 
time of his leaving his father's house, and travelling in 
a road ■waggon to his first situation, where he had to 
sleep in a stoke hole, compared with which his master's 
" sporting dogs' kennel was a beauty ;" to the time of 
his coming to see one of the great Horticultm'al Fetes 
at Chiswick, and, by his unsophisticated manners and 
coimtryfied appearance, stealing a march upon the 
benevolence of the learned secretary of the Horticul- 
tural Society. In the nan-ative of his successes and 
misfortunes, Grcgoiy, in his homely way, deals out 
some advice by which both masters and men may 
profit; indeed, in his i)reliminary address ho says, "I've 
tossed the caps down, let every master and man wear 
the one that fits him." In the progress of the work 
cuffs are dealt out with an unsjjaring hand to masters 
and men ; servants of all denominations ; tradesmen ; 
t 
