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VISITS TO REMARKABLE GARDENS. 
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white-flowered slender- growing shrub, from Japan, -which is supposed to he quite hardy ; and, at the 
Regent's Park, Messrs. Veitch had a good specimen of the same thing. Mr. Cole had a nice plant 
of Allamanda neriifolia, a most abundant blooming kind, and Mr. Loddiges, a very fine Aerides. 
Ixora Griffithii came from Mr. Green, and, though finely grown, is still too dull in colour to become a 
general favourite. Mr. Carson had Trichopilia coccinea, with a large dull red lip, and Mr. De Jonghe, 
of Brussels, a Billbergia. At the Park, Mrs. Lawrence sent a raceme of Amherstia nobilis, with Epi- 
dendi'um Lawrencianum ; Messrs. Rollisson, Bolbophylhim Henshalli ; Mr. May communicated Hoya 
bella ; Messrs Veitch, Collinsia tinctoria ; and Messrs. Henderson, Franciscea confertiflora, Pultenaea 
juniperina, two Ceanothuses, and Bossisea Hendersonii. Mr. Mitchell, of Brighton, sent Brunsfelsia 
nitida, from Jamaica. 
Of Pelargoniums there were none ; but Mr. Ayres and Mr. Ambrose had fine stands of the Fancy 
kinds. At the Regent's Park there were numerous collections of both kinds, but they were not fine. The 
dull, heavy, hazy winter and spring, an inactive atmosphere, with low temperature, were not sufficient to 
keep the fluids of the plants in active motion, and hence the prevailing disease, which is induced princi- 
pally by high feeding, could be seen in every collection. Some of the plants were denuded of foliage, 
and upon others it had anything but a healthy appearance. Viewed as a whole, the collections at the 
Park had a fine effect ; but, examined separately, there was nothing very remarkable in point of 
cultivation. We also noticed, among the so-called new and first-rate, a number of old kinds, which 
certainly had no business in such a class — such as Norah, Forget-me-not, Gulielma, Negress, Pearl, 
Ondine, &c. These should certainly not be regarded as new flowers. The same remark applies to the 
Fancy class : such things as Madam Miellez, Anais, Lady Rivers, and Jehu superbum, though pretty 
enough at home, are not fit for exhibition. Of Seedling Pelargoniums, Mr. Hoyle received a Certificate 
for Magnet, a crimson scarlet, with dark blotch, large truss, and fine habit. Mr. H. had also Celia, 
Chieftain, and one or two others. Mr. Ayres also received a Certificate for his Fancy Pelargonium, 
Formosissimum, the best shaped of its class. Cinerarias were shown in great abundance, but none of 
them very remarkable ; and the same may be said of Calceolarias. Pansies in pots, at Chiswick, came 
from Mr. Turner of Slough and Mr. Bragg : they were admirably grown, and bore some fine flowers ; 
but still, to be effective, they must have more flowers, and those in different stages of growth. At 
present they are too artificial ; and though the flowers may please the florist, they are too formal for 
the general observer. However, it was a good beginning. The fact that they can he grown in that 
way was proved ; and no doubt they will ultimately prove a very interesting display. We must not 
omit to notice Mr. Kinghorn's Epacris conspicua, which is a fine variety, between grandiflora and 
miniata ; and Mr. Hoyle's Epiphyllum speciosum, called Brockii, which is a very splendid variety. 
Fruit does not call for any special remark. It was tolerable for the season, which has been a bad one, 
but still not very remarkable. — X. 
♦ 
VISITS TO REMARKABLE GARDEN'S. 
The Suburban Residence of N. B. WARD, Esq., at Clapham. 
MOST of our readers, no doubt, have heard of the Wardian Case — that ingenious contrivance for the 
growth of tender plants in the polluted air of populous smoky localities, and admirable receptacle 
for plants en voyage, which had its origin in the accidental growth of a fern and a grass in a close 
glass vessel containing some moistened earth, which had been left for some time untouched. For 
many years past, by the aid of these closed cases on a somewhat enlarged scale, a considerable variety 
of plants has been cultivated with complete success, even in the most unfavourable spots in London. 
Mr. Ward's courtesy enables us, in the accompanying wood-cut illustration, to give a representation 
of the interior of a structure, on precisely the same principle, but on a larger scale, which he has more 
recently erected at his residence at Clapham ; and which certainly forms one of the most interesting 
garden sights in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, not so much for its size or architectural pro- 
portions as on account of the great variety of interesting plants which, by the plan adopted, have 
been accommodated in a very limited space ; and more especially on account of the principle which is 
here exemplified, and which has a material bearing on the practice of horticulture. 
We confine our notice at present to the enlarged Wardian Case just alluded to ; and we are happy 
to be able to introduce here the following remarks in reference thereto, with which Mr. Ward has 
kindly furnished us : — 
" The philosophy of the growth of plants in closed cases has been so repeatedly before the public, 
that it is not necessaiy to dwell at length upon the subject. The object I had in view in the con- 
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