NINETEENTH CENTURY 
291 
the road to a knowledge of current horticulture lay open 
to all. 
The natural outcome of all this floral wealth was a complete 
change in the manner of gardening. For instance, a pinetum 
would never have been contemplated had not Douglas and 
Lobb discovered and sent home the seeds of a bewildering 
number of pines. One of the earliest to be made was at 
Dropmore ; that at Kew was begun by Sir Joseph Hooker in 
1843, and in all the larger gardens in the Kingdom pine turns 
were laid out during the twenty years which followed. The 
present generation is reaping the benefit of them, and really 
fine trees are to be seen in those early established. Naturally, 
little was known of the growth or habits of many of the newly 
imported pines, and years had to elapse before the age of the 
trees was sufficient for their style of growth to become apparent. 
Hence it unfortunately arose that mighty forest trees were 
planted in confined spots or amid uncongenial surroundings, or 
specimens were injured by overcrowding. But, on the whole, 
the early Victorian pinetums were well designed. The ex¬ 
citement caused by some of these new arrivals often led to their 
being planted to the exclusion of more suitable trees. The 
“ Monkey Puzzle " or “ Chili pine " {Araucaria imbricata) 
attracted much attention from its originality. A writer in 
1847 1 describes how greatly he was impressed on seeing a plant 
of this 10 or 11 feet high in the Birmingham Botanical Garden 
—“ the most indifferent spectator would be immediately struck 
with the singular beauty of its appearance "; and he goes on 
to declare that he considers “ no gentleman's demesne com¬ 
plete without "it. From the numbers of this formal tree stuck 
about amid the most incongruous surroundings in many 
“ demesnes," it can easily be seen how well this advice was 
followed. 
In all considerable gardens the green-houses and stoves were 
much added to. These latter were also called “ Bark-stoves," 
as, to keep up a moist heat, banks of bark or other fermenting 
material were used instead of stages, and but little air was 
admitted. It was not infrequently the custom to devote a 
whole house to one kind of plants. In this way an immense 
1 In The Midland Florist. 
19—2 
