THE MAGAZINE

OF

HORTICULTURE.

NOVEMBER, 1845.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ART. I. Notes and Recollections of a Tour through part of England, Scotland and France, in the autumn of 1844. By the EDITOR.

(Continued from page 367.)

Kew Gardens, Oct. 1.-Kew Gardens are situated on the south side of Kew Green, about two miles beyond Chiswick, and adjoin the gardens and grounds of Kew Palace. They are reached from the city by the Kew Bridge, to which omnibuses run several times during the day. The grounds contain, in all, about fifteen acres.

Since 1838, great alterations and improvements have been made in Kew Gardens; at that period there was a report that government intended to give up the premises, and dispose of the collection of plants to various societies; the House of Lords, however, appointed a committee consisting of Dr. Lindley and Messrs. Paxton and Wilson, to institute a survey of the Gardens, and report thereon; this duty was attended to, and a favorable report made; the views of the committee were, we believe, fully, or in part, carried out, and, with the subsequent appointment of Sir William Hooker as curator, Kew Gardens have arisen to their former well earned reputation. The houses have all been remodelled or rebuilt, and are now constructed and heated in the best manner.

The grounds are prettily laid out, and the arboretum contains many fine specimens of trees and shrubs. Among others, a fine Bétula álba péndula, and a willow from the tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena. The plantations of rhododendrons,

azaleas, &c. were in fine vigor, and full of flower buds. The turf was of the deepest verdure, short, thick, and smoothly

cut.

The first house we entered was the Palm House, which is one hundred feet long, fifty wide, and thirty high; and filled with noble specimens, among which was a Fourcròya gigantea, which had even reached above the top of the house, nearly forty feet. All the new and beautiful Ipomeas, Echites, Passifloras, &c. were growing in pots, trained around sticks inserted at the sides, and in good order. The largest plant we ever saw of Strelitzia augústa was in this house; Dichorizándra thyrsifòlia had a spike of its blue flowers fully expanded. All the plants were in fine health.

The next house was the conservatory, about one hundred and fifty feet long and thirty wide, constructed in the old style, with upright front lights and blank roof. In this, were some of the most remarkable specimens of plants we have ever seen. Two Araucária excélsa, twenty to thirty feet high: two of A. Cunninghamii the same, and two of A. braziliensis, remarkably beautiful, the same. Very large camellias, rhododendrons, melaleucas, &c. &c., filled the entire house.

A house devoted to Cape and New Holland plants was filled with fine specimens of various acacias, eutaxias, polygalas, and some heaths; and we noticed a fine plant of Zanthosia rotundifolia with singular white flowers.

Two new span-roofed greenhouses, connected together transversely, had been recently erected, the whole heated by one boiler situated at some distance, in order to carry up the chimney, and get rid of the smoke. One of them was devoted wholly to the noble tribe of Banksias, probably by far the richest in Europe; indeed, we had no conception of their beauty from the few specimens we had seen in American collections; the name of Sir Jos. Banks could not have had a fitter memorial to commemorate the services he rendered to the Botanical world. The following species all large and well grown, were in bloom;-Bánksia marcéscens, B. Cunninghámii, B. média, B. speciòsa, B. reticulàta, B. spinulòsa, and also Dryandra longiflòra, D. floribúnda, D. plumòsa, &c., &c. A very large and well grown plant of the new shrubby veronica (V. speciòsa,) but not in bloom, with some other plants.

The collection of stove plants contained Cuphea decándra, with pretty lilac flowers; Leiánthus nigréscens with very dark flowers, and yellow stamens, quite new, something in the way of Lisiánthus; it is from Guatemala: Justícia cárnea with numerous heads of pink flowers; Aphelandra cristàta, with crested heads of bright scarlet flowers; Jasmìnum hirsutum, pretty. A collection of begonias embraced some fine species, very desirable: B. diversifòlia, handsome rosy flowers; B. nítida, blush flowers, pretty; B. Evansiana, with very delicate long pale rosy flowers, gracefully depending from the stems. All the fine gesnerias which have been recently introduced were grouped together on a broad shelf, among which G. zebrina stood conspicuous. The brilliant Achimenes pícta was in full bloom. Eránthemim strictum, a new plant with very showy spikes of rich blue flowers, Acàcia Kermesina, with many others less. The heath house contained many fine plants, but less interesting than the great collections of Messrs. Fairburn and Rollisson already noticed.

rare.

The Cacti house was not less interesting than the others; an immense number of new species have been collected together, and some of the specimens were of great size, particularly a species of Echinocáctus from Mexico weighing two hundred and thirty-five pounds: (since our visit, another has been added, weighing upwards of seven hundred pounds!) A remarkable specimen of the Philocèreus sénilis and the Cactus repándus full of rich yellow fruit of the size of a small apple; the whole well cultivated, and correctly and intelligibly named. A group of euphorbias, and another of stapelias, filled the house. A small palm house contained a fine specimen of Sábal Blackbúrnia spreading twenty feet.

Under the charge of Sir W. Hooker, Kew Gardens possess a degree of interest of great importance. Collections are continually making, and many new and beautiful acquisitions have already been disseminated from this place; all the new plants are figured in the Botanical Magazine, under the charge of Sir William, and the plants are duplicated as speedily as possible in order to afford a rapid dissemination, of such as are desirable, throughout the kingdom. Many new improvements are about to be made; the greatest of

them is the construction of a new conservatory, to be the largest in the country, and of which a model was exhibited in the rotunda in the pleasure grounds; it will cover a square of an acre or more, and will be formed of four circular houses on the corners, and one in the centre, all with domical roofs, the largest and highest in the middle; these will be united by a continued line filling up the four sides, and so arranged as to admit of two broad avenues crossing each other in the centre, and opening on the four sides. It will stand on a broad open lawn, and if the plan is carried out, it will exceed any thing of the kind in Europe.

In the grounds there is one of the most complete collections of British plants, arranged according to the Natural System; but we were not able to notice it particularly. Several new ornamental trees and shrubs have been planted out, and Kew possesses one of the largest and finest araucarias. Every department was in excellent condition.

Wimbledon House, Mrs. Marryatt, Oct. 2d.-Wimbledon House is situated about seven miles from London, within a few minutes walk of the Wimbledon Station, on the London and Southampton Railway. The estate once was the property of Bond Hopkins, Esq., and is upwards of one hundred acres in extent, pleasantly situated, and contains one or two fine pieces of water. The lawn slopes away from the house, the walk to the left leading to the flower garden, and that to the right through the pleasure grounds and park. Mrs. Marryatt is an American lady by birth, and from her enthusiastic admiration of flowers, she was some years ago elected an honorary member of the Mass. Hort. Soc. The gardener is Mr. Redding, who has been in Mrs. Marryatt's employ upwards of thirty years, and whose skill is best attested by the many medals which have been awarded him by the London Horticultural Society.

The entrance to the lawn is through the saloon of the house; passing to the left, the walk conducts to the Garden which covers about three acres of ground. A range of houses, consisting of graperies, greenhouses and stoves, occupies the south wall, and in front of them, laid out in beds on turf and divided by walks at right angles, is the flower garden. We first entered the orchideous house where we

found the collection quite extensive, and containing many well grown and rare species. Several plants of the beautiful Cypripedium venústum, which should be in every collection, were remarkably thrifty. Mr. Redding informed us that he prefers baskets for the orchids rather than pots, and the drainage he uses is coarse peat and moss. Of those in bloom, we noted Stanhopea Wardii, Cattleya Loddigesii, Lælia ánceps, Odontoglossum grándis and maculàtum, Brássia cordata, &c. The stoves and hot-house were well filled, but the plants had not yet been all removed to the greenhouse.

Mr. Redding has, what every good garden, of any extent should not be without,-a reserve house-where are brought forward all kinds of plants to take the place of those which have done flowering: by this mode, a perpetual bloom is kept up from October to May.

In the open garden, which is planted with much taste, several vases filled with the beautiful Sedum Sieboldii made a fine show. At the junction of the two main walks, a fountain occupies a circle, and standard roses border each side of the paths leading to it. On the turf are circles of various plants surrounded with basket work which give them the appearance of being immense baskets of flowers. These beds are first gay in the spring with crocuses, snowdrops, &c., which are succeeded by more showy bulbs; these give way to summer flowering plants, and the Californian annuals were now the principal objects of beauty. When the frost cuts. them off, a judicious planting of rhododendrons, kalmias, lauristinus, &c., give the grounds a lively appearance until the return of spring. There are upwards of two hundred beds. of various forms on the turf.

In the Kitchen Garden, we were somewhat surprised at finding that the Indian corn, which Mrs. Marryatt always cultivates, had not yet (Oct. 2,) arrived at sufficient maturity for the table. Mr. Redding informed us that his was the first season in which it had failed for some years; and he attributed it to the fact of his having been supplied with some very late variety. It is only the very early kinds that will do to plant, our common sweet corn being quite too late; this experiment will convey to those of our readers who are not familiar with the climate of Britain, the amount of atmospheric heat