380 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 15, 1857. 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 10. 
WILDPARK. 
What Mr. Veitch’s nursery is to England Wildpark is to 
Prussia, and any person connected with horticulture would 
as soon think of coming to Berlin without seeing the one as 
of going to London without visiting the other. It is only a 
little distance beyond Potsdam, and is the property of a 
wealthy railway director of the name of Augustin. It is 
quite a new place, and though, a few years ago, there were 
only one or two small hothouses, there are now a good 
many, and all filled with plants in the very perfection of 
health. A few years more and this nursery will be cele¬ 
brated throughout Europe for its collection of Palms : both 
for number of species and of individuals of each species it 
already takes rank among the first gardens in the world. 
Indeed, I doubt if we could at present find such a stock of 
young Palms in any other place as we see here. House 
after house we pass through, and find nothing else but 
these. Hundreds, nay, thousands of them are here arranged 
as thickly as is consistent with health, and all as clean and 
growing as freely as possible. While very young the pots 
are plunged in sawdust, beneath which is a chamber, through 
which run pipes, so as to furnish them with a genial warmth 
at the root. 
Great quantities of Palm seeds are received here from 
German travellers in America and elsewhere. As soon as 
they arrive they are buried in this sawdust, where, if good, 
they in a short time germinate, and are then potted. Pass¬ 
ing into other houses we saw plants more advanced, and old 
enough to be fine specimens of foliage plants. One house, 
and that not a small one, was entirely devoted to Latanias; 
the best among them Latania rubra, with its crimson leaf¬ 
stalks. 
Although the Palms must stand first on account of their 
rarity, yet there are other features in the garden of equal 
interest. The Cycadaceous plants are numerous, fine, and 
healthy, many of them most beautiful objects to be used 
for decorative purposes, standing alone as single specimens, 
but none, perhaps, more elegant than the old Cycas rcvoluta , 
with a noble crown of plumelike fronds radiating from a 
centre. Then there were the Aroidaceous plants, some two 
hundred species. They were growing at the back of one of 
the houses of large Palms, in a dark, warm, and moist situ¬ 
ation, which just suited them ; and they scrambled over the 
branches and trunks of trees, growing as luxuriantly as if 
they were in their native forests. Then we came to the 
Fern houses. About fifty tree Fern stems had been re¬ 
ceived a few weeks previously from Tropical America. All 
had arrived safely, and were throwing out strong fronds. 
Beneath the stages, upon which a most extensive collection 
of Ferns was arranged, numerous species of Selaginella 
had been planted out, and were growing freely. The 
beautiful little golden Fern, Nothoclcena chrysophylla, was 
first sent out from this garden. The Orchids were numerous, 
but the plants rather small; for it would not pay to grow 
large specimens here. They are remarkably clean and 
healthy, doing great credit to the young Englishman who 
until lately had charge of them. In the aquarium were a 
fine Victoria and the scarcely less interesting Euryale ferox , 
while from the rafters hung many species of Gourd. 
Perhaps one of the most difficult things a gardener is ever 
called upon to perform is to introduce rockwork indoors 
without its being so small as to look paltry, or so large as 
to appear clumsy; but in the principal greenhouse here it 
is done very naturally. There is no straining after effect. 
The masses of rock are arranged as we see them in situ, and 
therefore produce an effect which could not offend the most 
fastidious taste. They are placed in somewhat of a crescent 
shape, with a small stream of water gushing from a crevice 
near the top, and falling into a pool below. Good plants of 
many of the rarer Conifers are arranged among and above 
the rockwork, their pots hidden by a bed of Lycopods and 
various Ferns. There are also rocky grottoes leading from 
one house to another, and they have a very interesting 
appearance. There are many other things worthy of notice 
in this garden, and I hope to mention more of them upon 
I another occasion.— Karl. 
VITALITY OF SEEDS. 
At the recent Meeting of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science Dr. Daubeny, of Oxford, read the 
“ Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the 
Vitality of Seeds.” ITe alluded to the circumstances which 
called the Committee into existence, and stated that, after 
planting year after year all the seeds they were able to 
collect, they had now left but four species of plants whose i 
seeds continued to grow. These were species belonging to 
tbe genera Ulex, Dolichos, Malva, and Ipomsea. He ex¬ 
hibited a register in which every experiment, as performed 
by Mr. Baxter, of the Botanic Garden, was detailed. From 
this register it would be seen that the shortest period for 
which any of the seeds had retained their vitality was eight 
years, and the longest forty-three years. Grouping the 
plants according to their natural orders, the following 
selected will give some idea of the plants whose seeds retain 
their vitality longest:—Graminese, 8 years; Liliacese, 10 
years; Coniferte, 12 years; Tiliaceee, 27 years; Malvacea?, 
27 years; Leguminoste, 43 years; Rhamnaceae, 21 years; 
Boraginaceae, 8 years; Convolvulaceae, 14 years ; Composite, 
8 years; Myrtaceae, 18 years ; Umbelliferee, 8 years'; Cruci- 
ferae, 8 years. 
Mr. George Emerson, of the United States, expressed a 
doubt of the Maize being strictly a plant of the New World, 
from the fact of its occurrence in the floral decorations in 
Rome in the time of Raffaelle. 
The Chairman stated that botanists had always regarded 
the Maize as a plant of the New World, and the evidence 
that it was so was regarded by Alfonse De Candolle, in his 
recent work on the geographical distribution of plants, as 
quite complete. 
Dr. Daubeny replied that if the Maize were a plant of the 
Old World they could hardly have failed to use it; and the 
fact of Raffaelle’s painting it might be accounted for by the 
interest all products from the Now World were regarded 
with in his time. 
Dr. Eankester drew attention to the physiological interest 
of the report just read. It would appear that the seeds 
which retained their vitality longest were those which had 
least albumen surrounding their embyros, as the Legumi- 
nosse, whilst those which had large quantities of albumen, as 
the Graminaceee, lost their vitality soonest. 
Dr. Steele stated that he had planted many seeds obtained 
from Egyptian mummies, but always failed to obtain any 
indications of their vitality. 
Mr. Moore, of the Dublin Botanic Garden, related an 
instance in which he had succeeded in producing a new 
species of leguminous plant from seeds obtained by Mr. 
John Ball from a vase discovered in an Egyptian tomb. 
He also stated that he had picked from out of the wood of a 
decayed Elm, at least fifty years old, seeds of Laburnum, 
many of which had germinated when planted, and produced 
young trees. He had once grown a crop of young Barberry 
trees by planting a quantity of Barberry jam, which proved 
that the process of preparing the jam did not injure the seed. 
Many seeds grew the better for being placed in boiling 
water before they were set. 
Dr. Daubeny stated that seeds did not retain their vitality 
whilst entirely excluded from the air ; that in order to keep 
them well they should be wrapped up in brown paper, or 
some other porous material. 
Mr. Archer stated that the seeds sent from China in 
air-tight vessels always failed to germinate. Some seeds 
kept much better than others. 
Mr. Ogilby stated that some seeds germinated the better 
for being kept. 
Mr. Nevins and Mr. Moore both confirmed this statement, 
and said that gardeners were in the habit of keeping Cu¬ 
cumber and Melon seeds in their pockets in order to insure 
their more efficient germination .—(The Athenanmi.) 
WINDOW GARDENING.—RAISING 
SEEDLINGS. 
The bother and trouble, together with the loss of time in 
attending to seedlings, induced me to try the experiment 
of raising succulents from seed “ in a closed case ” on th^ 
