May 22. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
125 
sending strong roots, which, no doubt, would cause the 
berries to be much larger. When I saw them so lino, 
and knew the Vines were only a year old, I could not 
help saying, Who need be without Grapes in the shortest 
possible time. All that is required is a low house or 
pit to grow the plants in, ami another to fruit them in. 
Certainly, even in a commercial point of view, this 
method must be a profitable one. 
FORCED STRAWBERRIES. 
The visitors at the London shows have often admired 
Mr. Ivesou’s pots of Strawberries, they were so fine and 
large. I caught the secret how they.were produced, 
and I was informed that the great growers for Covent 
Garden have adopted the same plan. It is done this 
way,—the plants are put into the pots in the usual way 
that first runners are laid into small pots, and when 
sufficiently rooted, they are repotted into their fruiting 
pots. In the autumn, they are laid on their sides one 
above another, bevil fashion, aud there remain till they 
are required for forcing; this gives them a check, and 
keeps the roots dry and the plants fresh and green. 
Previous to commencing forcing, a pit is filled with the 
! autumn dropt leaves quite up to the glass, and as soon 
j as they have become warm, the Strawberry-pots ate 
i plunged up to their rims amongst the leaves; the cou- 
: sequence is, the plants enjoy a moist, gentle bottom- 
! heat, are close to the glass, and are thus in the best 
; possible condition and position to grow and produce 
{ not only large, fine fruit, but plenty of them. To cause 
! them to swell to their full size at Sion House, the 
! quantity is reduced by thinning the first blossoms, and 
cutting off all those that are produced late. Whoever 
has the means should adopt this mode of forcing this 
handsome, grateful fruit, always acceptable, but more 
especially during the early spring months. To have a 
succession, they (at Sion), when the fruit is swelled and 
just beginning to colour, remove that batch out of the 
pit, and place them on shelves in the early forcing- 
houses, refilling the pit from the store-heap. 
| SALVIA GESNERIFOLIA AND HUMEA ELEGANS. 
The large conservatories were very gay with Camellias, 
j Acacias, aud other free early-flowering plants; among 
them, I was particularly struck with several large spoei- 
I mens of Salvia gesnerifolia, covered with the long spikes 
of their glowing, large, scarlet flowers. Mr. Fish has 
| written very eloquently in praise of this fine plant, and 
I wish he had been with me to see it so well grown and 
: properly flowered. I noted a considerable number of 
the graceful plant, Humea elegans. We usually see it 
; grown with one stem, or, at most, with two or three 
I side-branches; but here they are enormous bushes, with 
seven or eight leading branches, growing in twelve and 
sixteen-inch pots, yet all single plants. The way this is 
accomplished is to stop the leading shoots when young, 
and to stop them again when the shoots have made 
some progress, potting them frequently, and giving 
them free doses of liquid-manure. They must be truly 
graceful objects when they produce their numerous spikes 
of flowers gently waving with every breeze. 
EARLY SPRING FLOWERS. 
I was pleased to find that the pages of our periodical 
are read in the gardens at Sion, and that some of the 
matter in it is carried out here. They are collecting 
these lovely harbingers of summer in considerable 
numbers. Many of the flower-borders are of the mixed 
kind, producing flowers all the year. The early bloomers 
are being planted very freely; lienee, next year, when 
they have become established, they will be very in¬ 
teresting. Formerly, some of the borders in the flower- 
garden were thickly planted with dwarf Rose-trees, and 
allowed to grow rather tall, the consequence was they 
hid, in a great measure, the extent of the garden. This 
season they are all pegged down close to the ground, 
, which is, 1 am certain, a great improvement. 
MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA AND MAGNOLIA 
GRANDIFLORA EXMOUTHII. 
These in the arboretum are perhaps the largest, trees 
about London. I was sorry to see the late severe winter 
had injured the leaves very much ; but that need not be 
a matter to be surprised at; fori see, in many places, 
even against walls, the leaves are turned brown at the 
i edges, and the young shoots destroyed. 
KEW GARDENS. 
On the same day, I took the opportunity, as I was so 
] near, of visitiug the Royal Gardens at Ivew ; but as the 
day by that time was on the wane, my inspection was 
necessarily a very cursory one. I noticed, however, a 
j few things that I think worthy of being known, 
i 
AMIIERSTIA NOBILIS. 
Most of our readers will have read about Mrs. Law¬ 
rence, of Ealing Park, having first flowered this truly 
magnificent tree about twelvemonths ago. Mrs. L., in 
consequence of ill health, disposed of her fine collection 
of plants, and also part of the glass houses. Amongst 
them was the house containing the far-famed Amherstia 
nobilis. The tree Mrs. Lawrence presented to the gar¬ 
dens at Ivew, and there I saw it. It evidently had 
J suffered by the removal, but it is fast recovering, and 
had on it, when I called, several spikes of its truly 
beautiful flowers, and besides that, was putting forth 
new branches and leaves; so that we may hope, in 
another year, it will have attainted its pristine beauty. 
STOVE FERNS. 
The large stove formerly occupied with Orchids, in 
which they did not thrive satisfactorily, is now occupied 
entirely with Ferns. These gardens certainly possess 
the finest collection in the world of these beautiful and 
interesting plants ; and they are exceedingly well grown 
and freely propagated. It is no wonder that Sir William 
Hooker, aud his able coadjutor, Mr. I. Smith, are learned 
in Ferns. With such a collection constantly before them, 
I may be allowed to say, that nobody else has so good 
an opportunity of studying their affinities and classify¬ 
ing this large tribe. 
ACACIAS. 
The month of April is the very time to visit Ivew to 
! see the greenhouse Acacias. There is a very large col¬ 
lection of them, and I was anxious to examine them to 
see if there were any to add to the list I published 
lately. I saw almost all that 1 selected, but very few 
additional species that I could recommend. A. cultri- 
folia is one with broad leaves, and large, bright orange 
flowers; and A. diffusa is another, a prostrate growing 
species. I met with several large plants of my favourite 
A. Dnnnmondii. The original species, they say,—the va¬ 
riety of much narrower leaves—is not worth growing 
compared with the species. A granilis was very grand, 
and several varieties beside it of A. jntlchella were in 
; full flower. That species seems to sport very much 
from seed. 
In the greenhouses there was a go.y display of flowers, 
such as Epacriscs and Azaleas. It is evident the govern¬ 
ing powers are studying more a good display of flowers 
to please the million than growing mere botanical 
subjects. Though the hitter would bv no means be 
