180 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. December 9. 
a border, let it bo above tbe grouiul level instead of 
below it. 
Look at tbe north of Ireland, and, indeed, other 
parts of that fertile country, and examine the reasons 
wliy tliey cannot produce Peaches, Nectarines, Apri¬ 
cots, L^c., like some parts of England. We were in the 
habit of corresponding on such subjects, some years 
i since, with Air. Young, then gardener to the Earl of 
Enniskillen, at Elorcnce Court, where our singular Irish 
Yew iirst showed its lace; a mere spoi’t from the com¬ 
mon Yew. In such correspondence, Mr.'Y. used to give 
! extraordinary accounts of the wild and rami)ant cha- 
j raeter of such fruit-trees through extreme humidity of air; 
I not I'or want of warmth. Broad Beans have been quoted 
as six feet higli, and many other things in proportion. 
To be sure, the want of more sun-light is a great draw- 
; back; but here we are met with another reason for the 
avoidance of a plethoric habit. Air. Young has, since 
those days, gone to Natal, on the African coast; and if 
ever those pages should obtaiir a footing amongst the 
descendants of flam, we should be right glad to hear 
from him. He will have a very dill'erent account to give 
of that climate. 
In a subsequent paper we will give a detail of cases, 
with their treatment; and such will surely be fitting 
matter for the dormant season. 11. Erri.noton. 
A VISIT TO THE BOTANIC GABDEN, 
OXFORD. 
Tins is the oldest botanic garden in the kingdom, 
having been fouuded in Itl.’W. The first catalogue of 
plants in it was published in 1 ( 118 , enumeiating two 
thousand s]jecies, of which six hundred were English. 
Dr. Ilobert Alorison, a native of Aberdeen, was the first 
Professor of Botany: he was appointed in 1(1(19. Of 
his three next successors little is known. In 1728, 
Dillenius, a German botanist, was appointed Professor, 
and the garden was much improved through the in¬ 
ti ueuce and liberality of Dr. William Sherard, who 
bequeathed ThOU to jirovide a salary for the .Professor¬ 
ship. On the death ol' Dillenius, in 1747, Dr. Humphrey 
Sibthorj) was appointed his successor, and he, in his 
turn, was succeeded, in 1784, by his youngest son. Dr. 
dohn Sibthorp, the celebrated author of “ Flora Grieca.” 
He died of consumption, in 1700, at the early age of 
thirty-eight, and in his will bequeathed his books and 
collections to the botanic gai’deus. The number of 
species collected from his manuscriiits and specimens 
amount to three thousand. He also devised a free¬ 
hold estate of i,'200 a-year to his own University, for 
the purpose, first, of publishing bis “ Flora Grmca,” 
and afterwards of endowing a Professorship of llural 
Economy. The author of the “ Flora Grmca ” was 
succeeded by Dr. George Williams, who held the Pro¬ 
fessor’s chair till bis death, in ltS;54, when the present 
occupier. Professor Daubney, took the reins. 
I had a longiugdesire to visit Oxford, for two reasons; 
first, to make the personal acquaintance of the worthy 
curator. Air. Baxter; and then to see, for the first time, 
the very garden from which the first ideas of the sexual 
system in plants was given to the world, from experi¬ 
ments and observations made there two liundred years 
ago, and before Ray or anybody else bad given a 
thought on the subject. The cross-breeder was received 
at Oxford very difi'erently from the reception given by 
Dillenius to Liniimus, whose name is immortalized 
through the sexuality of plants. Within the last few 
years. Professor Daubney, assisted by Air. Baxter, 
the curator, has made great alterations and inptrove- 
ments in the arrangements of this garden, and their 
plans are not yet finished. 1 had some notion that the 
Professor had a taste for flower gardening, from bis 
remarks when I once conducted him over a fine scene 
in that style, but 1 little expected to find a better taste 
in tbe disposition of the flower beds here, along two of 
tlie principal walks, than is to be seen in a similar way 
at Kew. The bods in the angles of walks, at Oxford, 
and along both sides of the walks, in pairs, are in the 
best style of the art. They are so at Kew, likewise; 
but there are no beds in the angles of any of the leading 
walks at Kew, and there is an outlandish taste in 
]dacing live or six feet circles immediately behind each 
pair of oblong beds, which may be from twenty to 
twenty-four feet long, writing from memory. 'The 
botanic herbaceous plants are planted, chicHy, in 
circles of dill'erent diameters, cut out of the grass 
behind the llower-beds which skirt the walks, and the 
trees and shrubs are jilantcd in long borders in such 
a way as to diversify the surface as much as possible, 
the situation being low, and without any natural un¬ 
dulations. 
'The grass garden is also in circles cut out of grass, 
every species having a eircle for itself, and the whole 
bordered with medicinal jAants, and the odds and ends 
are in borders or strips hero and there over the garden. 
All the walls are covered with half-hardy or nearly 
hardy jilants, and some of them are the very finest 
specimens in that style I ever saw, particularly a very 
large full-grown jilaut of SpircEa Liiulleiidna, on a south¬ 
east aspect. It w'as then in seed at the ends of all the 
branches, and on an average, the flow'er branches or 
clusters were from twenty to thirty inches long, and of 
immense thickness. It must have been the next thing 
to the Pampas Grass while it was in flower. The plant 
is a very fast grower, and last year 1 recommended 
to have it made into standards, to rival the Stag-horn 
Sumach; but, for a cold wall, where jdenty of roonr can 
be given to it, I would jilant it next after Whtann 
sinensis, and before any other deciduous jdant that I 
can now think of. After that 1 would ])lant a strong 
young plant of Aralia jiiponioa, about which Air. Fish 
}uit us on the right scent the other day. The Spircea 
I would train just like a peach-tree, and the Arnlia I 
would allow to grow out from the wall, ns you see figs 
sometimes lefc untrained. 1 now see clearly enough that 
this Ar<(lia ought to be treated in all resjiects like a fig, 
except the close nailing. Meliantlms major is here, and 
at Kew, against walls without beat, and is one of the 
best of the very old pdants that one coidd plant for 
the beauty and sea-green of the leaves. The flowers 
are didl, but so full of honey, that at the Cape of Good 
Hope tliey use them for tea and coil'ee instead of sugar. 
In very hard winters this needs protection, but if the 
roots are saved they will soon throw iqi strong young 
wood. Smilax Sarsaparilla is of the same class, and 
is convenient for training here and there between 
specimens of larger growth. 
'The Olive, Christ's Thorn, {Zizyplius Paliurns), the ; 
Osage Orange [Madura aurantuwa), the oak-leaf JIijil- | 
ranyea, Aeacia juliltrissin, a fine thing. New Zealand 
Flax Convolvulus scanioniim, Solanim crispum, a fast 
grower but coarser and more common-looking than 
S. j((sminoules, are all against cold walls here, with 
Passion flowers, Bauksian Roses, aud many other less 
hardy plants, of which they have a large stock. Also 
two species of a very scarce ]>hint called Ppiliedra [mono- 
siacluja and distaehya). One seldom sees these two 
dwarf evergreen shrubs excejit in botanic gardens; 
but they are highly curious, aud well worth having, as 
w'e have no other plants like them except the Cusuarinas 
of Australia, or our own British Equisetims, or A1 are’s- 
tail. 
I )nust .also notice the AW (7»'ny;e of North America, 
from among this class, if only to second a suggestion 
that was lately made by an able writer, to the etlbct 
