425 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 24, 1857. 
[ had plenty of any variety I threw all such decay- 
! ing roots away at once. Every time I removed the 
| covering above mentioned I made a close inspection, 
and sought all decaying and mouldy roots, to prevent 
the infection from spreading. 
Treatment of New Varieties purchased or the 
Dealers.— A safe plan with these plants, as soon as they 
are received, is to repot them and place them under glass 
tor three weeks, watering them freely, and giving plenty 
ol air till they have become strong, good plants. This 
help to their progress assists their growth much quicker 
than planting them out at once when received. If the 
plants are rather tall and spindly the top might be 
taken oil and put in as a cutting, which duplicates the 
stock and does the plant no harm, provided there are 
several leaves left on it below the cut. 
I will give a list of varieties in my next. 
T. Appleby. 
{To he continued.) 
GUNNERSBURY PARK. 
This seat of Baron Lionel de Rothschild was honoured 
recently with a distinguished notice by the press. The marriage 
of Miss Leonora, the eldest daughter of Baron Lionel, to 
Baron Alphonse, the eldest son of Baron Janies Rothschild, 
of Paris, was the cause. Although the description of the 
wedding repast, the wedding cake, the bridal presents, the 
plate, the jewellery, the marriage ceremony, &c., was in¬ 
teresting to manj', nevertheless I felt disappointed when I 
read that “ the walls were covered with large mirrors, with 
ornamental trellis-work between, up which were twined long 
garlands ot artificial Passion Flowers, Lilies, wreaths of 
Orange blossoms, and other emblematic Flora suited to the 
occasion.” As I had the pleasure of seeing the place on the 
2nd inst., the day before the wedding, I am induced to 
inform the readers of The Cottage Gardener that living 
plants and flowers, Nature’s choicest productions, contributed 
most materially to beautify the scene, and that on such an 
occasion they were most poetically and appropriately intro¬ 
duced. 
“ O lovely flowers ! the earth’s rich diadem, 
Bright resurrection from her sable tomb, 
Ye are the eyes of Nature—her best gem ! 
With you she tints her face with living: bloom. 
And breathes delight in gales of rich perfume ; 
Emblems are ye of heaven, and heavenly jay. 
And starry brilliance in a world of gloom ; 
Peace, innocence, and guileless infancy, 
Claim sisterhood with yhu, and holy is the tie.” 
In the grand portico, adorned with columns of the Tuscan 
order, large specimens of Camellias, Azaleas, <fcc., were taste¬ 
fully arranged. In all the rooms, flowers—living flowers—in 
recesses, on chimney-pieces, in vases and baskets, on orna¬ 
mental stands; in short, in every place they were the most 
prominent and conspicuous objects. In the dining-room a 
large recess was filled with the choicest plants in flower, 
surmounted by a vase, also filled with flowers, and backed 
by a large mirror. The walls were covered with largo 
mirrors, which gave a multiplied reflection of all the wonder¬ 
ful things the rooms contained. 
The more general adoption of mirrors would be useful as 
a means of increasing the pleasing effects of plants in a 
conservatory. At Thornwood Lodge, Campden Hill, upon 
| entering’ the conservatory attached to the house, ocular 
demonstration is given of the variety, magnitude, and 
multiplied views produced by mirrors, and reflected from 
several parts of the drawing-room. 
A list of the plants in flower and arranged through all 
the rooms at Gunnersbury Park would comprise a great 
variety of greenhouse and stove plants, with some rare 
Orchids, and the more general assortment of bulbs, in 
eluding several varieties of Amaryllis in full bloom. In 
the extensive forcing department the fruiting Pine plants 
were in most luxuriant health, planted out on the Hamil¬ 
tonian system, and the succession plants in large pots. 
The Vines in pots, some trained upwards from the bottom 
of the Vinery, and another set on a shelf at the back, and 
trained downwards on the wires under tho rafters, were 
showing eight, and some ten, good-sized bunches. The 
pathway of another house was an arcade of Cucumbers, be¬ 
sides the Cucumber pit, where fruit in all its stages was to 
be seen, and from which fruit had been cut for several months. 
The Peach house, divided into two compartments, is about 
forty-two yards long and five feet wide, heated by hot water; 
the fruit in the earlier house is thickly set and swelling to 
a good size. French Beans and ripe Strawberries were 
abundant. The productive and healthy state of the fruit 
trees and plants, and the general good order and system 
kept up through every department of the gardens, commend 
Mr. Forsyth, the head gardener, as one of the go-ahead sort, 
best qualified to carry out all modern and improved systems. 
—William Keane. 
BROCCOLIS WHICH HAVE WITHSTOOD THE 
LATE SEVERE SEASON. 
I quite concur with the remarks of Mr. R. Errington, in 
his history of the Broccolis, at page 390 of March the 10th 
Cottage Gardener. He seems to think the name in part 
should indicate the character and habits of the variety ; for, 
as he remarks, they should not have such vague names as 
Dilcock's Bride or Waterloo White, without their habits and 
season being explained. 
If I am not mistaken the last autumn and winter have 
well confirmed that, as to durability and hardiness, few, at 
least in this neighbourhood, and generally in Scotland, can 
boast of having been much benefited by Broccolis, par¬ 
ticularly the Cape varieties. 
Snow’s True Winter, or rather, Early Autumn, is a splendid 
Broccoli, being of a good colour and compact shape, but L 
find it extremely tender—more tender than any Broccoli I 
ever grew. The Capes, I think, are a little hardier; at least, 
I have grown a variety for the last twenty years under the 
name of Gillespie's Grange's Cape. I crossed it with an 
Early Spring White; since then it is scarcely so early, but 
much more hardy. I have generally found the Cornish ox 
Cornwall Broccoli to be a useful variety, but this winter it 
has dissolved away as if it had been a pulp of soft matter, 
and several other varieties have shared the same fate. 
I have a variety which originated from the White Malta, 
an excellent White Broccoli, crossed with an Invisible Head¬ 
ing. It is coming in now. The head is white, and enveloped 
or covered by a lot of small leaves, which quite protect 
the heads. 
I have been an enthusiastic Broccoli grower for many 
years, always trying to improve them, and I have found, as Mr. 
Errington remarks, that Broccolis are very liable to sport; 
therefore, if it is wished to have a variety perfectly true, as it 
should be, each distinct sort should be out of bloom before 
another comes into bloom. 
Tho only other variety I have that has stood the winter 
is the variety lately published in this paper, raised by me 
under the name of Melville’s Dwarf White May. I can 
vouch that not a single head has failed of it under all the 
severe and variable weather we have experienced. I, in a 
measure, attribute its stauding to being dwarf. I consider 
a great deal of injury is done to our Broccolis from the frost 
operating on the stem or stalk. All Broccolis, I think, 
intended to stand the winter, if not lifted and laid down, 
should have the earth drawn up to the lower leaves, but not 
farther, so that the water may pass away from the axils of 
the leaves, where it might lay much, to the injury of the 
plants. 
I have frequently planted alternately one row of Broccoli 
and one of Cauliflower, to allow, after the Cauliflower is 
cleared off, ample room for a free circulation of air, and 
at the same time an ample supply of earth is at hand to 
earth up the Broccoli to the leaves with. I have invari¬ 
ably found Broccoli to stand the winter best when not 
planted thickly, so that a free circulation of air might pass 
through them. 
As the late autumn and winter have been so prejudicial 
to all vegetable crops in Scotland—even the hardy Scotch 
Kale has been destr-oyed in many places—the question is 
suggested, Is there no substitute hardier than the Curled 
Kale ? I know one even better, and could forward you a 
sample ; indeed, Mr. Beaton has seen it. I forbear naming 
