44 
THE FLORIST. 
one of the most noble specimens of the Pampas Grass which I have 
ever seen. In the kitchen garden, the sterile sand was groaning under 
the most luxuriant crops of Celery, Spinach, &c. A new fruit room 
attracted my attention. It has been built by Mr. Spencer, and is an 
illustration of our present state of knowledge in this department, formed 
with hollow walls, abundantly ventilated at pleasure, and having a small 
division heated by a stove, to accelerate ripening the later kinds. With 
this resource, Mr. Spencer will doubtless become a formidable exhibitor 
of this excellent fruit, and probably pair (pear) off with Mr. Tillyard. 
But I am digressing from my object in sending you this paper, which 
is simply to show how chance circumstances do by coincidence illustrate 
the principles of the art of gardening—yes, the fundamental principles. 
After walking over the greater part of the domain of Bowood, Mr. 
Spencer proposed that I should accompany him to the principal inn at 
Caine, to see what he called “one of the finest walls of Peach trees,” 
and one which had produced this year many magnificent fruits. We 
soon arrived at our destination, and were shown the Peach trees. They 
were old, and trained with little care, but there was plenty of short- 
jointed wood in them. On the top of a bank of calcareous grit was a 
rough stone retaining wall, and on the top of this a plantation, the 
branches of which, projecting over the wall, would prevent the nocturnal 
radiation of heat; the face of the plantation would also absorb a quantity 
of heat, being fully south, and thus increase the quantity accumulated' 
by the wall. From the foot, of the wall, the ground slopes away to a 
depth of from 8 to 10 feet down to a river or canal, so that there is, too, 
the most perfect drainage. I saw a few fruit remaining, which were 
very fine, and Mr. Spencer assured me that the produce had been 
wonderful. Now the advantages possessed by these trees seem to be 
these:—1st, That of the retaining solid wall and earth, which must 
become more highly heated, and part with the heat more slowly than 
a thin wall, from both of the sides of which heat radiates rapidly till it is 
quite cooled.—2nd. In cases of severe frost, the projection of the small 
branches of the forest trees on the top of the wall, must arrest the 
radiation of the heat collected by the wall and frost must by conse¬ 
quence be repelled, while the same advantages hold good in ripening 
the wood. Let us all take a lesson from the Caine innkeeper’s Peach 
trees. 
Nuneham. Henry Bailey. 
ROCK PLANTS. 
Perhaps there is nothing contributes more to the general interest of a 
well-kept garden than a tastefully designed rockery. I am of opinion, 
however, that if the construction of rockwork has been sufficiently 
attended to many plants appropriate for such situations have been 
neglected; this, particularly, is the case with rockwork of secondary 
extent. I, therefore, beg your permission for a small space to insert a 
list of such plants as are known to be suitable for such situations, with 
a few remarks on the subject generally. I would in the first place 
impress on the minds of those about to erect rockwork that the selection 
