381 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 22, 1859. 
A PEEP AT SOME OF THE LONDON 
NURSERIES. 
Some business requiring me to travel up to London, 
and having a day or two to spare, I took the opportunity 
of giving a hurried visit to a few of the nurseries; and, 
as I believe, any information I may be able to give will 
be useful and acceptable to the numerous readers of The 
Cottage Gardener, I sit down with pleasure to decipher 
my notes. 
The first I called at was Messrs. Rollison and Sons, at 
Tooting. Omnibuses run there every hour in the day 
from Gracechurch Street. Tooting is seven miles from 
GornhiU. 
The first thing I noticed was a new and handsome 
span-roofed conservatory, 150 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 
20 feet high. It is used as a show-house. The back wall 
was covered with Camellias, in flower, chiefly of dark 
colours, contrasting well with the stone-coloured wall. 
In the centre there are two beds of earth filled with 
Camellias, in pots, many of which are in flower. Retween 
these two beds there is a space intended for a fountain, 
at present occupied with several newly-imported Tree 
Ferns from New Zealand, some of which had trunks 
fifteen feet high. They are already pushing forth healthy 
fronds. In a year or two these will be fine objects. 
Round the paths, next the glass, I noticed many flowering 
plants—such as Epacrises, Heaths, Dutch Bulbs, Pri¬ 
mulas—all in full bloom, rendering the house very gay for 
so early in the year. A space near the principal entrance 
is occupied with fine-foliaged plants—such as Yucca aloi,- 
folia variegata, ten feet high ; the Japan Mahonias ; 
the Norfolk Island Cedar, &c. The beds are separated 
from the paths with a cheap edging, formed with bricks, 
rounded at the top with cement. If this will last, it is a 
good invention, worthy of imitation. Time will tell. 
I then went into the house devoted to the Heath tribe; 
and a fine stock was there of all the better kinds—nice 
bushy plants, such as I should like to have a lot of, had 
I a house to grow them in : they are just the sort of plants 
to begin with to form into specimens. The next house 
was filled with the Indian Azaleas. 
Next, I proceeded to seek for my main object in calling, 
the much-desired-now variegated plants. I found here a 
good stock, some quite new—as, for instance, Aristolochia 
leuconerva, green ground with yellow veins, from tropical 
America ; Spigelia cenea, oval leaves veined with bronze, 
and spikes of pure white flowers—a handsome plant, 
introduced by Mr. Linden, from South America; Begonia 
nigrovenia, with black veins ; Begonia Madame Wagner, 
all silver over the leaves, excepting the veins, and a blotch 
in the centre of dark green ; Maranta pulchella, dark 
green leaves, striped across with whitish-green—a hand¬ 
some plant 
The greatest treat, however, was a house filled with 
seedling Begonias—hybrids from the handsome Begonia 
Bex. Six of the best have been named respectively :— j 
B. grandis, olive-green ground with an irregular zone of 
clear white; stems and leaves covered with red hairs, 
tipped with white. B. Urania, light-green leaves with 
purple zones, intensely red underneath; the hairs on this 
variety are very short. B. nebulosa, the leaves are covered 
with round blotches of white in clusters, and a hair in 
the centre of each spot. B. Virginia, the white zones on 
this variety nearly cover the leaves ; margins and centre 
dark green; the hairs are curiously distributed on the 
veins only. The young leaves are of a deep rich crimson 
colour. This is a fine variety. B. Bollisonii, leaves dark 
green, shaded with purple ; centre dark purple ; hairs 
crimson, and the leaves underneath are of the same 
colour. B. Isis, a curious species with no hairs on 
either the stems or leaves, excepting a few thinly scattered 
on the extreme margin of each leaf There is a metallic- 
silvered border on the leaves ; the rest is a rich olive-green 
colour. 
The first-named variety ( B. grandis), is, I was informed, 
a continental variety, imported in 1855. The rest are 
Messrs. Rollison’s own raising. They have all the habit 
of Begonia Bex, being dwarf and persistent, and quite 
as easy to propagate. I saw, in a propagating-pot filled 
with small bits of leaves, many of which were putting 
forth small leaves and roots. No doubt they will be 
offered for sale in the spring. 
These hybrids are exceedingly interesting, and very 
beautiful I never saw a house of plants that gave me 
more pleasure than this one, filled with those rich-coloured¬ 
leaved Begonias. Some few were in bloom, and the 
flowers were borne on short footstalks; they were of a 
pale flesh-colour, shaded with pink, and of a considerable 
size. 
In a house filled with Ferns, I noticed a splendid plant, 
fully two feet, with leaves a foot and a half long, of 
Cyanophyllum magnijicum, which I described in a late 
number. I was glad to find that I had not said one word 
too much in its praise. This nursery has been noted for 
many years for the collection of my favourite plants, the 
Orchids. I found them in good health, and rich in the 
best kinds. A large number of Dendrobium nobile was 
in bloom. As this species is now very cheap, a good 
blooming plant may be had for 5s. i think such cultiva¬ 
tors as grow flowers to cut for bouquets, would find it a 
profitable plant for their purpose 
In a span-roofed house there is a good lot of New 
Holland plants, just a nice size to form specimens ; many 
of them, indeed, are half-grown specimens already. I 
noted a beautiful thing in flower—viz., Hovea splendens. 
It was a low, bushy plant, every shoot covered with the 
brightest blue pea-shaped flowers. 
The next nursery at which I called was the Messrs. 
Hendersons’, in the Wellington Road, St. John’s Wood. 
The great attractions here now are the favourites of my 
friend, Mr. Beaton—the Cyclamens. No one that has not 
seen them can conceive what a splendid show they make. 
A little fortune might be made out of the blooms, if they 
were all made into wreaths for the hair, and all well sold. 
Really it is surprising that these lovely plants, handsome 
both in foliage and flower, are not more sought after. 
They are far easier to grow than the Chinese Primrose, 
and are, as everybody knows, perennials, increasing in 
size, and the quantity of blooms, they produce every 
year. The variegated plants here are numerous and well 
grown; but I did not notice any species different from 
those I have already described. 
The winter garden here is remarkable for its ai’rauge- 
ment. You may wander in it, and only see the plants 
before you—the walks wind so among them. As Mr. 
Beaton has but lately entered so fully into the minutiae 
of this nursery, it would only be a useless repetition 
for me to describe the same thing. I next visited 
my old home, Pine Apple Place, and the King’s Road 
Nursery, the notes on which I must keep for a future 
opportunity. T. Appleby. 
(To be contimied.) 
PRESTON HALL. 
.Tourneying from Maidstone to London by the North Kent 
Railway, and near to the Aylesford Btation, the traveller gets a 
short passing view of this elegant mansion; the front of which 
presents a rich embellishment of Caen stone, combined witli 
Kentish rag, and a greater proportion of windows and ornament 
than is usually met with in buildings of a private' character. 
This light, airy form is so well suited to the situation it is placed 
upon, that few can do otherwise than approve the taste of the 
spirited owner, E. L. Betts, Esq., who has erected such an 
elegant structure—for the building is quite new. The property, 
with an old mansion near where the present one is, only passed 
into the hands of its present enterprising owner ten or a dozen 
years ago. He then commenced the bui'dingof the mansion, and 
the formation of a new garden on an entirely new site. 
The mansion, it is proper to say, fronts both the north and 
