shading. By sowing broadcast also, the progress of the seedlings is much more rapid; and it deserves to be better known by English nurserymen, that when French gardeners wish to forward the growth of camellia stocks or cuttings, or young plants of any of the more strong-growing green-house shrubs, they do not put them at once into little pots as we do, but plant them in beds of earth in their pits or frames for a month or two, and afterwards, when they are well rooted and have made a good shoot, they transplant them into pots. This mode is, perhaps, more necessary for their dry atmosphere than for ours; but we have no doubt it might be advantageously adopted in this country, on the principle of saving labour and hastening maturity. Mr. Calvert has the merit of having endeavoured to increase the commerce of heaths, camellias, pelargoniums, and Australian plants in this part of France, and that of roses and orange trees in England; his efforts, we believe, have not been without a certain degree of success. He is, however, engaged in various other pursuits, and is much from home, which may be one reason why his nursery was not in such good order as we could wish to see a specimen of an English nursery in a foreign country. The mode of getting the work done is worthy of notice; only two or three gardeners are regularly kept, and every now and then, when the weeds get beyond the economic point, and other labours accumulate, a quantity of military are hired for a day or two to get through it. Mr. Calvert arrived at Rouen the day before we did, after an absence of several weeks, and we were told that in three days after we visited him, he put thirty soldiers to work, and removed every weed from his premises. We must not forget to notice his practice of shortening the young shoots of the rose acacia in July, by which means they make second shoots in August, and are kept flowering all the autumn till stopped by the frost.

Détennemare's Nursery, and a few others that we glanced at, offer nothing for particular remark. The great leading articles in all of them are standard roses, and the fashionable flower the georgina.

Vallet's Nursery is almost limited to the culture of orange trees and roses. Of the latter M. Vallet has introduced various new sorts into England. (p. 205.) The stocks are planted very thick, perhaps two in a square foot, in beds 4 ft. wide with alleys 1 ft. 6 in. wide, so that they are most conveniently pruned and budded from the alleys, and the effect when they are in blossom is remarkably good. This gentleman is rather a keeper of orange trees, than a cultivator of them. He has a hundred trees, several centuries old, in large

boxes 4 ft. square, and 200 trees, upwards of a century old, in smaller boxes, besides a great number of young plants, pomegranates, neriums, amomum Pliniis, brugmansias, and other house ornaments of the last century. M. Vallet's late father invented the most improved machine, commonly called diable, for moving large orange trees, or other trees in large boxes, from place to place; and a person was sent from Versailles, in the time of Louis XIV., to take a copy of it for use in the orangery there. The most improved form of this machine is given in Thouin's Cours de Culture, and it may be useful to exhibit it here. (fig. 81.) There being no axletree

reaching across from the one hind wheel (a) to the other (b), when the roller (c) and the bar (f) are removed, the machine can be set back, so as to include a box or tub in the central space between the four wheels; the roller (c) being replaced, the ropes (dd) are put under the hooks of, or by other means fastened to, the tub or box, which, by four handspikes, worked in the rollers (cc) by four or more men, is raised 6 or 8 in. from the ground, or as high as the axle if necessary, and then carted to where it is to be set down. The bar behind (f) is movable, and is replaced and fastened by two iron pins after the carriage is charged. Were such a machine executed in England, the wheels might be of cast-iron, or of a better construction in wood and iron, and for ropes chains might be substituted. M. Vallet is ready to sell all these large orange trees; but, in the mean time, as they are kept in an orangery admitting very little light, and requiring proportionably little firing in winter, the price received for the sale of the blossoms pays the expenses incurred and a little more.

These blossoms are sold for distilling orange water, an article much used in French cookery and confectionary; and, in coffeehouses, for that very generally used beverage eau sucré. This part of the business is managed by Madame Vallet, who is au fait at every thing connected with the nursery business.

Savoureux's Nursery and Flower-Garden. Here are some very good orange trees, and one was pointed out to us which was produced from an old trunk nearly 6 in. in diameter, and about 4 ft. long, with the collar, but no ramose part of the root, which had lain three years in a cellar as a bearer to a wine cask. The vital principle, it would appear, had retained its force, notwithstanding the want of excitement by leaves during that period. M. Savoureux was employed in writing, but we were shown round the garden by Madame Savoureux, a very handsome neatly dressed woman of twenty-five, perfectly acquainted with the nursery business, and competent, as she informed us, to tell the name and price of every plant, and complete any transaction respecting them, without reference to her husband. The greatest part of the garden is occupied by standard roses, most of which she buds herself; and she explained the difference between budding à l'œil poussant, which is budding in June and July, and three weeks afterwards shortening the stock to within an inch or two of the bud, which causes it to push; and budding à l'œil dormant, which is done with roses in August and September, and with fruit trees also at these seasons, and the stock not being shortened till the following spring, the bud does not push till that season. This lady, having children, passes the greater part of her time in the garden, and chiefly among the rose trees. She told us that she was not fond of housework, that the baking day and the cleaning day were not very agreeable to her, and that when she sat down to sew she got tired of it, and fell asleep. It would appear from this and similar cases that we have met with in France, that the arts of domestic economy and comfort are less cultivated and prized there than in England; because, otherwise, the wives of respectable nurserymen (M. Savoureux we should consider about the rank of Mr. Allen in the King's Road) would find it necessary to occupy themselves almost constantly in the house, as they do in the latter country.

Having now got through the commercial gardens of Rouen, in our next we shall notice the public gardens, and such of he private gardens and parks of the neighbourhood as we visited.

(To be continued.)

ART. II.

Remarks on various Gardens about London, and in other Parts of England, visited in April and May, 1829. By Mr. JACOB RINZ, Jun., Nurseryman, Frankfort on the Main.

Sir,

AGREEABLY to your request, and with the greatest pleasure, I send you some remarks which I made during my stay in England; but I must beg of you to take into consideration, that I have seen comparatively few of the gardens of my own country, although I stopped a considerable time in France and Holland. I should like to give you an account of many excellent things in all the places which I have seen; but the greater part of them have been noticed already in your Magazine, and in the Encyclopædia of Gardening, I shall therefore confine myself to a few remarks on English gardeners and gardening.

The Garden of Messrs. Loddiges. Like almost every foreign gardener who visits England, I arrived in London full of expectation and curiosity. The first garden I visited was that of Messrs. Loddiges, and never shall I forget the sensation produced in me by this establishment. I cannot describe the raptures I experienced on seeing that immense palm house. All that I had before seen of the kind appeared nothing to me compared with this. I fancied myself in the Brazils; and especially at that moment when Mr. Loddiges had the kindness to produce, in my presence, a shower of artificial rain. Under such natural and perfect management, the palms, ferns, and most other plants, appeared just as might be expected. I was surprised at the vast ranges of green-houses and hothouses; particularly at the beautiful curvilinear camellia house, in which the plants produced the most beautiful effect. The whole collection seemed perfectly well kept, except the ericas, which, as Messrs. Loddiges observed, had suffered last summer from some very hot days.

The Clapton Nursery. The next garden I visited was the nursery of Mr. Mackay at Clapton. Here I was struck with the neat construction of the houses, the beautiful and rich collection of Cape and New Holland plants, and their excellent management: but I was particularly pleased with the propagating house, and I am fully convinced that cuttings will strike no where else better than under such management. (See Vol. II. p. 25.) All that I saw in this nursery exhibited superior taste and knowledge, and consequently all the plants were in a very luxuriant state.

Other Nurseries. It would be, perhaps, tedious to enumerate all the beauties observable in the nurseries of Messrs.

Gray, Malcolm, Lee, Colville, Knight, Whitley, Milne, &c. The exotic collection of Mr. Lee seemed to me almost as extensive as that of Messrs. Loddiges, if I except the palms; and Mr. Knight's camellias appeared superior to those of any other nursery. The flower-forcing at Colville's is very rich, though I think we force flowers on a much larger scale in Germany than you do in England. For instance, in Frankfort, every winter, when the balls are in season, it is not a very uncommon practice to decorate the whole house, the entrance hall, and all the rooms, stairs, and passages, with flowering plants and forced flowers; sometimes with flowering orange trees, large specimens of acacias, &c.; thus transforming the house into a garden, and affording a beautiful sight. This we practise in Frankfort, not only on the above-mentioned occasions, but, on great festivals, in the cathedral and other churches. Perhaps the custom exists in England, but not to my knowledge. I much felt the want of a splendid flower-market in London, where one might admire every day a beautiful exhibition; and it would certainly encourage the trade, delight amateurs, and contribute to the interest and ornament of the metropolis.

But with respect to the London nurseries, I must confess that I was every day more astonished at them. I saw the fine collection of Cape and other plants by Messrs. Rollison, the forcing-houses of Jenkins, the collections of Messrs. Bassington, Brooks, Smith, Henderson, Chandler, Cormack, Young, &c., and also the Kensington forcing-gardens, with all of which I was very much delighted. There are no where else in the world so many large and well kept collections assembled together. To be able merely for once to look at those places would be a sufficient inducement to the Continental gardener to visit England.

The Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick seems to be pretty well kept; all the plants stand perfectly well, and some fine new ones were in flower. I was very much pleased with some arrangements, and, amongst others, with the various modes of training in the fruit department; but, in my humble opinion, the flower and American plant departments might have been much better laid out than they are. The space is sufficiently extensive to admit of producing a fine effect, which would have greatly contributed to the beauty of the garden. The round groups of shrubs are in part too small and uniform. The second time I visited the garden I saw Alstroemeria pulchélla, Maurándya Barclayàna, and the wonderful Glycine sinénsis [Wistaria Consequàna] in full flower.

Kew Gardens. In the middle of last month (April) I made a tour in the country, and the first place I stopped at was Kew