270 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, January 20, 1857. 
i plants will flower in April, being early kinds, and, as it’j 
I were, slightly forced here. After flowering they will bo ; 
removed, and a second lot to flower in May will succeed, j 
them. 
In every part of the Palace the plants look well. The 
marble beds along the fountain basins are now as full j 
of pot plants as they were last July, and most of j 
them are of the same “ furnishiug ” kinds, and the only | 
difference is the want of flowers. Whole hosts of super¬ 
numerary plants of the same kinds, in small pots, meet 
you right and left along the whole length of the building 
in groups here and there, and every one of them looked 
as if they were in cold pits, and only six inches from the 
glass all this winter; and were it not for the look of 
the thing, and for the danger of being run over at times, | 
I believe all the bedding plants for that garden might 
be kept as safely inside the Palace as in the best con¬ 
structed pits in England, but I may be wrong: I could 
only judge from what was then before me. No doubt 
but on such grand occasions the gardeners put the best 
foot foremost. There were very few plants in flower; but 
all the plants were most healthy-looking, and very clean, 
except in the colonnade, where a good rattling with the 
water engine is much wanted, the leaves being in one 
coat of dust. 
Woodfordia radioans, on the stumps at the west end, | 
seems the best kind of Fern to cover such places, as it j 
spreads so much without taking head room from other j 
plants near it. Lots of Witsenia corymbosci were in 
bloom at that end, and it was droll to see the India- 
rubber plant, Ficus Indicus of old, tbe common Rho¬ 
dodendrons and Camellias, with Cryptomerias, Gupressus 
funebris, and Calceolaria rugosa, growing side by side, 
without any perceptible difference in their vigour, health, 
or growth. I question if there is a plant house in the 
three kingdoms where such plants could be grown with 
anything near so little difference. 
Araucaria Bidwillii promises to be the finest of that 
class of plants, even competing with imbricata itself; 
but we have had scores of undeveloped plants in the 
nurseries for years, for want of proper knowledge of 
them, which knowledge will soon be supplied from this 
collection. Corynocarpus lavigatus was the best new 
plant of the kind in London when I first came up. It 
was then supposed to be a rival to the Magnolias; 
but who knows it now out of a botanical collection? 
I saw it here about the middle of the nave, and its 
healthy, shining aspect suggested a new idea to me, 
that of taking a season ticket, and spending one day a 
week for a whole season to get up a thorough review of 
all the “undeveloped” plants in the Crystal Palace. 
Who is destined to “ get up ” a taste for winter gardens, 
however ? for without that taste no one would read my 
review after all. 
A huge bush of Sparmannia Africana was in bloom. 
Acacia argyrophylla, seven feet high here, with grayish- 
white leaves and wood, would make an excellent subject 
in a collection of fine-leaved or silver-leaved plants; 
but I shall not anticipate the review any further to¬ 
day than a mere glance at the stove end, where 
the plants are in a still better condition than those 
we left behind. There is no question now about 
their being able to grow stove plants here to per¬ 
fection if they choose to go on with them. The 
Musas have grown into groves already. One like 
sapientum was in hloom on one side of the bronze foun¬ 
tain, and coccinea was an object of great beauty in bloom 
on the other side. Here they had some AEchmaa fulgens 
and little Poincettia pulcherrima in bloom in the marble 
beds along the basins. 
Hosts of young Palms are in excellent health, j 
Palms will be “ developed ” here most certainly some 
day. Several large Cocos plumosa have made a good 
start already; also Chamcerops Martiana and excelsa. 
But the following will let gardeners know more cor¬ 
rectly what I mean when I say they look particularly 
well just now:—The Star Apple, ChrysophyHum Cainito; i 
the Avocado Pear, Persea gratissima; the Coffee tree, 
tbe Rose Apple, Jambosa vulgaris; the Cberimoyer, ; 
Anona Cherimolia; the Wampee tree, Cookia punctata ; 
the Ordeal tree, Cerbera Tangldn ; and the soft-leaved 
Malabar Nut tree, Justicici Adhaloda. All these look 
as healthy here as ever any of them did in a close stove ; 
but it will be many years before the Beaumontia grandi■ \ 
flora will expand its growth so high up in the arched 
crystal vault as to throw it into free flowering in this ; 
stove heat. The glass stood at 65° that afternoon. 
The grass and gravel, and all the trees and shrubs in , 
the garden, looked as fresh as in summer. A pouring- 
in-torrents rain on the previous night did not “ wash ” j 
the gravel more than washing off the dirt, nor rendered j 
any part of the walks unfit for the roller. The large I 
Deodars are now “ feathered ” as if they had been grow¬ 
ing there for years. The beds along the bottom of the 
centre part of the terrace are planted with Wallflowers; 
and the Araucarias and best hybrid Rhododendrons all 
over the grounds are screened from the cold by “ wattled 
burdlework.” Thus rough stakes or poles are set upright 
all round a tree or bed two feet apart, and as high as 
the plants to be screened; and faggot shoots of Oak, 
with the leaves on, are wattled in and out all round very 
neatly for such work. Round the American or Rhodo¬ 
dendron beds the height of the wattling is that of 
common sheep hurdles, and a hedge of Oak branches in 
leaf, from two to three feet high, is made along the top 
of the hurdle-like fence by thrusting down the shoots 
in the top of the -wattle or hurdlework just as you 
would stake a row of dwarf Peas. This method is the 
very best that has yet been tried for “ breaking the 
wind” and sun in frosty weather. The sun, wind, and 
frost often run together, and brown over the best ever¬ 
greens, and pinch blossom-buds with no more damage, 
and this is the antibrowning process. Beach, Horn¬ 
beam, and Larch boughs, with the dried leaves on, are 
as good as the Oak for this purpose. 
There is another most useful application of the same 
process in some country places. You cannot plant out 
anything for underwood in an old plantation that will not 
be destroyed the first winter by hares and rabbits. I 
once planted out eleven thousand Yews and Hollies, 
and some Ash and Spanish Chestnut in an old planta¬ 
tion that swarmed with game, and never lost one of 
them. I allowed a yard in diameter, and from half a 
yard to two feet high of this kind of wattling, and none 
of the “ varmints” ever got over it. D. Beaton. 
WINTER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL CON¬ 
SERVATORY HEATED BY GAS. 
So much has been said of these matters of late, that 
some excuse may be presented for not attending a 
month earlier to the particular case of “E. C.,” of Barns- 
bury Park. He tells us that his conservatory, attached 
to the house, is twelve feet by six feet, glass above and 
in front, but brick sides, aspect north-east, with no sun 
in winter, heated by gas, with a pipe to take off the 
impure air, and a pan of water on the stove to yield 
moisture. During last winter he kept the temperature 
at 42°, and lost nothing; but, as the stock has increased, 
he wants more information as to the treatment, air, 
water, &c., that should be given until the 1st of April. 
A list of plants is given, and a farther list is required 
of what would answer in such circumstances, as the 
owner is much from home, and has no pits or frames. 
I have read the letter with mingled feelings of pleasure 
and regret: pleasure that our correspondent should have 
