I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 9, 1850. 101 
plants of the kind I ever saw, the stems about thirty 
inches, and the heads full four feet across, and in one 
mass of blossom-buds; no end to standard Myrtles, 
from a size for children’s gardens to that of a duke ; 
Oranges the same, some of the five-feet size being very 
fine, and closer in the heads than you often see them 
in private collections ; Aralia trifoliata seven feet high. 
These, with various hybrid Rhododendrons in good bud 
for early house bloom, complete the lobby, as they call 
this house; but I called it the vestibule, which is a 
more classical name. On the left of the vestibule is 
the greenhouse wing, which is twenty-eight feet by 
eighteen feet. The first pair here is of the Norfolk 
Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa, six feet high (just a 
comfortable height to begin with), and an odd one a 
little higher; then a pair and an odd one again, to 
get the odds to match. There are A. Bidwillii, three, 
feet, and A. Cunninghamii, five feet; then a pair of 
Stenocarpus Cunninghamii , the old Agnostis sinuata, 
and one of the very best of the good old plants 
from New Holland, but which no one in Europe has 
yet flowered except Mr. Weeks, of this same King's 
Road; Aralia trifoliata and Podocarpus taxifolia, a 
good match in height of three feet, in rarity, and 
choice, though at extremes in the leaves ; a pair of 
Australian Dragon-trees, four feet ( Dracrena Australis); 
an odd D. indivisa , five feet; one Lomalia ferruginea, 
three to four feet; lots of Chrysanthemums in bloom; 
also of the Catalonian Jasmine, as at Clapton; and, what 
would you think next? Just this—all the pillars plauted 
with Lapageria rosea. The roof and columns are to be 
covered entirely with this one climber, and, if that will 
not push it into the farthest-off comer of Europe, why 
wc must. 
The right-hand wing is of the same dimensions, 
and is devoted to stove plants of a high order of 
merit, beginning with the China Rice Paper Plant (Ara¬ 
lia papt/rifera) in full bloom, much in the way of those 
we already knew of them ; a collection of their best 
specimens of eight kinds of Draccena ; a pair of Musas, 
Cavendishii and zebrina; several beautiful young Palms, 
such as Plectocomia elongata, Dcemonorops asperrima, 
Coryplia australis, another of the Pan Palms, and 
others of that style; plain and variegated Screw Pines 
( Parulanus ) of great beauty of foliage; Ficus pandura- 
folius, a garden name for F. puberula, a recent intro¬ 
duction from India; a very fine Maranta vittata ; the 
noble-leaved Urania speciosa ; a newly-introduced En- 
cholirium, called Encholiripn Jonghi here and at the 
Clapton Nursery. This has not yet flowered in Europe; 
but a dried flower-stem, which was sent with the plants 
by M. de Jongh’s collector, is said to have been a yard 
long. Erom this and the position of the genus among 
Bromeliads, between Dyckia and Pourrelia, together with 
the meaning of the name by Dr. Martius, it is believed 
to be a first-rate plant. The proper name is Encho- 
lirium, from egknos, pregnant, and. leirion, a lily. It 
came to England this season, and deserves well to be 
remembered. If it is as good as Vriesia or FEchmea, 
which it somewhat resembles in growth, it will assuredly 
be' as easy to grow, and become as great a favourite. 
Sonerila margaritacea iu bloom ; and also in bloom that 
beautiful new bulb which I told about more than once, 
the lovely Eu'charis (accent on the u) Amazonica, which 
is more stately than E. grandiflora, which it resembles iu 
the ivory whiteness and shape of the flower. There is 
a large stock of it here ready to bloom, and it seems to 
bloom at all seasons. Eucliaris here means, “ to love 
beauty.” Several variegated Pine-Apple plants, one of 
which is -in fruit iu another house, with lots of other 
good things. The climbers for this house are Passiflora 
princeps, or Scarlet Passion-flower ; P. Buonapartea, one 
of the freest to bloom of the quadrangularis section; 
Allamanda Schottii, Bignonia grandiflora (not Tecoma 
grandiflora), and kermesina, the very best of all the 
Passion-flowers. 
In the entrance to the long corridor, from the front 
range to the large conservatory, a glass case on the left 
contains specimens of the wood of various Conifers, 
together with cones of such kinds as macrocarpa , 
Sabiniana, Lambertiana, Araucaria Cookii, Welling- 
tonia gigantea, Picea bracteata, nobilis, grandis, and 
amabilis, and Torreya myristica, with others that are 
better known. Opposite to this stands another glass 
case, containing dried specimens of the branches of 
Torreya myristica, a new species of Yew from Ore¬ 
gon ; f( ellingtonia, Libocedrus decurrens, perhaps the 
best of that genus; Pinus macrocarpa and muricata; 
Picea grandis, nobile, amabile, and bracteata, and others. 
There are also drawings of many of the more rare kinds 
to help the judgment, and so open the purse with more 
confidence. The different kinds of money mixed in a 
compost, with good drainage, is the best thing in this 
world to make plants go the right way. 
Next to these stands a collection of different kinds of 
vases ; and pray look at anew style of vase for growing bog 
exquisites in the front hall, with a glass down over them 
—quite a new fashion, and the best of all the new ones. 
The centre of the bottom of this vase is raised an inch or 
two, according to the size, so that an inch or two of 
water rests on the bottom before any escapes by the 
drainage-hole; or a lead pipe, two, three, or more inches 
in length, might be put into an old vase, and made water¬ 
tight at the collar, so as to have the depth of the pipe 
always full of water. Then fill the vase thus:—Take the 
thickest and most fibry peat turf, and cut it into squares; 
put a row of these on edge at the bottom of the vase, and 
one inch of moss between each of them, and between 
them and the vase another row of smaller squares cross- 
ways over the first; moss again, and so on to a coned 
centre, diminishing the lumps as you rise. On the top 
and sides of this cone all sorts of Sun-dews, Bog Ferns, 
and goodness knows how many more kinds, will grow 
with astonishing vigour without ever being watered 
from above. The bottom beiug so much in water, the 
moss sucks it up, and gives it off' to the peat so gently 
and so uniformly that no plant which has a liking to a 
stream, lock, or “ murmuring brook,” can refuse to put 
up with the indulgence of a glass house inside the big 
house. All the Sarracenias and other short Pitcher Plants 
might thus be grown if we had but a good solid name 
for the contrivance. 
The corridor was full of the best half-hardy plants for 
setting off a winter conservatory, and others, the more 
prominent of which were as follows:— Bonapartea Jila- 
mentosa, an elegant improvement on B.juncea, the most 
classic-like plant in England to follow architectural 
ornament in terrace-gardens throughout the whole of the 
summer months; a pair of Agavefilifera. These are dwarf 
Aloes, to which the last remarks square to an eminent 
degree, nothing being generally so ill understood as the 
proper decoration of terrace-gardens. Flowers under this 
rigid system are like good music without accompaniments. 
A pair of Yucca calyculata to match crossways with the 
Aloes, then a change; a pair of Dammaras, four feet 
high, a new kind from North Australia; a very dis¬ 
similar pair of Chamcerops gracilis, followed by a pair of 
Araucaria Bidwillii, three to four feet; a pair of A. Cun¬ 
ninghamii, and an odd one behind. Among these were 
several pairs of Variegated Yuccas, one pair being well 
nigh five feet iu height. A single specimen of Eugenia 
Ugni, four feet high, and a yard across the head. This 
was paired with a beautiful plant of about the same size 
as Araucaria Bidwillii. 
Take particular note of this pair, and learn the 
pairing on that system ; also the following one, Tor¬ 
reya Hurnboldtii —not a Tory recollect, but a Dr. Tor- 
rey. This is a light green Taxus, or Yew-like plant, 
