THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Resuming, for the guidance of country visitors to the 
World’s Fair, our list of the public and private horticul¬ 
tural establishments worthy of a visit, we come next to 
The Royal Botanic Garden, in the Regent’s Park. Here 
they will see more taste and better gardening than at 
Chiswick, though as clayey a soil has to be contended 
against, and a smoky atmosphere. Visitors will also 
find the same admirable exhibitions of the results of the 
best gardening of England, as at Chiswick, on May 
14th, June 11th, and July 2nd. Exhibitions of Ame¬ 
rican Plants, May 31st, and June 7th, and the Rose 
Garden will also be open on June 21st. 
Chelsea Botanic Garden is also well worthy of a 
visit; but we have so recently noticed its superior culti¬ 
vation, that we need only express a hope that, during 
May, June, and July, the Apothecaries’ Company will 
open it to the public, without the preliminary inconve¬ 
nience of applying for an admission order. At present, 
this order is readily obtainable by application to Apo¬ 
thecaries’ Hall, Water-lane, Bridge-street, Blackfriars. 
Steam boats and omnibuses reach Chelsea every five 
minutes. 
Among the nurseries worth visiting, we add the fol¬ 
lowing to those already named— 
Knight and Perry’s, King’s Road, Chelsea, is just now 
quite an exhibition. The sliowliouses are full of bloom. 
There are more specimens of Azalea Indica, in varieties, 
than we ever saw together, but of these there are not many 
in flower. This nursery is famous for Standards of all 
kinds, Rhododendrons, Bays, Laurels, Laurustinas, &c. In 
one house the glass roof is literally lined with the Stephan- 
otis fioribunda, and as full of flower-buds as it can he. One 
of the finest collections of the Conferee that can be found 
near London is very tastefully grouped in fancy beds. The 
great treat, however, is a new house for Water-plants, where 
the Victoria Regia is coming forward rapidly ; and the 
Nympheea ccerulea is in full flower, throwing up numerous 
blooms far larger than we ever saw it before, and it is perfect 
beauty. Nympluea sanguinea is growing fast. The tank is of 
slate, three feet from the ground, and exceedingly well made 
by Mr. Beck, of Islewortli; we did not take the dimensions, 
but it may be fifty feet square or more, and planted with 
some of the greatest curiosities among the family of Aquatics. 
The Hyacinths in the sliowliouses were of the most choice 
varieties, and well bloomed; and there was abundance of all 
the spring flowering bulbs. The immense Rhododendrons 
(Arboreum ), which have so long graced the principal apart¬ 
ment in their range of glass, have no bloom this year, and 
they appear to exhibit signs of having been checked in then- 
growth, but they are certainly the largest in the country. 
This Nursery is two miles from London. Omnibuses every 
five minutes from the Bank, and Circus, Piccadilly; and 
steamers. 
J. and C. Lee, Hammersmith (the well-known Nursery 
formerly Lee and Kennedy’s). — The most remarkable 
feature in this nursery is the fine collection of that singular 
and curious tribe of plants known as dry stove plants, or 
succulents — Cereus, Echinocacti, Epiphyllums, Mammillarice, 
and others too numerous to mention. Here is also a large 
number of Greenhouse plants in the houses ; and a large 
space of ground devoted to the Rose tribe. There is also 
a considerable collection of Conifers, the Pir tribe. An hour 
or two here would be well spent. Two and a Half miles from 
London. Omnibuses pass the gate every five minutes from 
the Bank. 
Messrs. Loddige’s, Hackney. —This nursery is renowned 
for two things : the large Palm House, nearly 80 feet high, 
and filled with fine plants of that tribe; and their extra- 
j ordinary collection of Orchids. For these alone this place 
| must not be passed by; there is also a very extensive 
j collection ol Camellias, and also Stove plants. Exotic Ferns 
[May 1. 
are also choice and plentiful, as well as numerous rare 
Heaths, and other greenhouse shrubs, hardy trees and shrubs. 
A visit to this far-famed and long-established Nursery must 
not be delayed, as the lease is nearly expired, and the prin¬ 
cipal part will soon, instead of choice plants, be covered 
with bricks and mortar, in the shape of houses. 
H. Low and Co., Clapton. —This may be truly designated 
a wholesale nursery. Every thing dealt in is on a large 
scale. New Holland plants, Heaths, Azaleas, and other 
greenhouse plants are grown in amazing numbers, and sold 
while young, chiefly to the trade, both at home and abroad. 
Here is a tolerable collection of that almost forgotten tribe 
the Proteads, and a large number of Conifers. Four miles 
from London. Omnibuses run from the Flower Pot, in 
Bishopsgate-street, every quarter of an hour. This nursery 
is but a short distance from Messrs. Loddige’s. 
Osborn and Co., Fulham. —A large establishment chiefly 
remarkable for a choice collection of hardy trees, shrubs, and 
Fruit-trees. Four miles from London. Omnibuses from 
the Bank every quarter of an hour. 
Rollison and Sons, Tooting. —In this nursery is a large 
collection of Orchids in good condition. Also a fine collec¬ 
tion of Cape Heaths ; and several thousand seedlings of 
that fine plant the Rhododendron Javanicum. Some of the 
older plants have flowered and proved true, being the orange- 
coloured variety. Here is also a good collection of Stove 
plants; and a house filled with Camellias in good condition. 
A day may be well spent by visiting Mr. Groom’s, Messrs. 
Fail-barn’s, and, lastly, Messrs. Rollison’s, for they are on 
the same line of road. The latter is six miles from London. 
Omnibuses pass the gate every hour from Gracechurch- 
street. 
Salter, Versailles Nursery, William-street, Hammersmith .— 
This nursery is but lately established. The owner formerly 
owned a nursery near Paris. He is famous for new varieties 
of Dahlias, Heliotropes, Phloxes, Verbenas, and other florist’s 
flowers. 
Wilmot, Islewortli. —This is a fruit-garden famous for 
Pines, Grapes, and Strawberries. Some idea may be formed 
of the extent to which the fruit culture is carried on here, 
when it is mentioned that ten acres are covered with straw¬ 
berries alone. Eight miles from London, by omnibus from 
Piccadilly. 
Woodruff, Kensall. —In this nursery may be seen the 
extent to which the culture of certain classes of plants can 
be carried in the neighbourhood of London. There are 
houses, perhaps 50 feet long, filled with one kind of Gera¬ 
nium alone; another filled with Heliotropes; a third filled 
with China Roses; a fourth with Verbenas, and so on. This 
astonishes those accustomed to see only mixtures of such 
plants. Two miles from London. Omnibuses pass to Ken¬ 
sall Green every hour from the Bank. 
We have confined ourselves to the nurseries within 
an easy distance from London, for our space would be 
exceeded were we to enlarge our circle. 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
The Tulip growers have been taken by surprise by 
the announcement that Mr. R. Lau rence, of Hampton, 
whose bed of tulips is, perhaps, the finest in the world, 
intends to sell them by auction about the last week in 
May. 
The value of this collection may be estimated by the fact, 
that there are in it no less than 30 Louis XYL, 1G Musi- 
dora, 12 Fabius, 12 Pompe Tenebre, 12 Vivid, 10 Nora 
crena, 10 Thalia, 8 Rose Arlette, G Dickson’s Duke of 
Devonshire, 6 Brown’s Ulysses, 4 Brown’s Magnificent, 4 
Brown’s Polyphemus, 4 Bysantinum, 4 Pandora, G Marcel - 
lus, G Strong’s King, o Lyde’s Queen of Hearts, 2 Lac, 
besides several each of Groom’s Queen Adelaide, Apelles, 
Brown’s Hamlet, Lord Collingwood, Brown’s Wallace, Par- 
megiano, Queen of the North, Salvata Rosa, Dutch Ponceau, 
in fact every first-rate flower in cultivation. It is quite cer¬ 
tain that there has never been such a sale before; and as 
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