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I am aware that the practicability of cultivating the cauliflower, broccoli, and gooseberry used to be denied to this country; but for this there is no just foundation, the difficulties that have existed in the cultivation of these articles being solely attributable to the want of proper management on the part of the cultivators. In the gardens of Martin Hoffman, William Ogden, Henry A. Coster, John Hone, Esqrs., and others in this vicinity, the cultivation of the cauliflower and gooseberry was as well understood nearly thirty years ago, and their produce as certain, as those of other crops. Within these few years past, the most complete success has been attained in the culture of broccoli; and, in the depths of winter (that magnified bugbear), there is not the least difficulty in retaining a most abundant supply of the very best kinds of vegetables.

For some further information on this subject, I would beg leave to refer you to the first volume of the New York Farmer and Horticultural Repository, particularly the twelfth number, as in it is expressed a wish for some information from you on the subject of cottagers' gardens. Should there be any service that I can render you in the horticultural affairs of this country, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to perform it to the best of my abilities. Being born and brought up as the son of an humble gardener in Kinross-shire, and having spent the chief part of all my days at the spade and hoe, I am but a very awkward hand at the management of a goosequill; yet should you think the above contains any thing that might be useful or entertaining to the readers of your Magazine, it is most cheerfully submitted by, Sir, yours, truly,

New York, Jan. 1829.

WILLIAM WILSON.

IN a review of the New York Farmer and Horticultural Repository, which, if not inserted in the present, will be found in our succeeding Number, we have given our opinion on this subject, which is simply this: that though in America, as in the south of France and Germany, fruits will ripen in the open air, which will not ripen in the open air in England; yet, from the severity and long duration of the winters in the former countries, the common culinary vegetables and many exotic trees and shrubs which live in the open air in England during winter, are obliged to be protected, or are killed, and therefore we consider England the preferable country for horticulture, taking that word in its most extensive sense, or equivalent to the meaning that we apply to the word gardening. But taking the word horticulture in its strict sense, and

considering it as the art of cultivating culinary fruits and vegetables, we consider Germany and America preferable to England, because more may done in the open air in those countries, than in England, and as much by protection, by forcing, and by artificial climates. Cond.

ART. X. Some Account of the Botanic Garden at Lisbon. By W. CHURCHILL, Esq., Royal Marines.

PORTUGAL, adapted by nature for easy culture of the vegetable productions of the torrid and temperate zones, the first coloniser of India, till within a few years mistress of Brazil, and still retaining extensive African possessions, has never stood forward as the patroness of botany. Unlike Spain, who under every disadvantage has laboured hard for the science, she can boast of but few individuals, who, incited either by a laudable curiosity or more enlightened views, have availed themselves of her natural advantages, to introduce those botanic treasures to which for nearly three centuries there has been access; though, like her, the ignorance, inappetence, and poverty of her legislation, have for years been formidable impediments to the advance of science.

The Royal Botanic Garden at Lisbon is situated on the side of a hill (fig. 82.), sloping with a considerable declivity

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to the Tagus, a little below the Palace of Ajuda, and enjoys a full exposure to the south. It covers a space of about two acres, surrounded by a high wall, round which on the inside and up the centre is a shady walk of Laúrus nóbilis, Cércis Siliquástrum, Ceratònia síliqua, and Juglans règia. The south wall has in front a wide terrace, on which the botanic houses are built; descending from these by steps you arrive at the pleasure-garden, as it is termed, which, together with the terrace,

occupies about one half the space enclosed, the remainder is devoted to walks, orange, lemon, and citron quarters.

Art being the avowed object in Portuguese gardening, the eye is offended by the mechanical rigidity of the parterres, the clipped, rectangular, box alleys, and the grotesque embellishments, characteristic of the gardening of the south of Europe, which disfigure the pleasure-garden; but the number of acclimated exotics to be seen there, vigorous and unsheltered, makes it an object of the greatest interest.

The plants are grown without reference to their natural orders or to any system, and have been casually planted from superfluity that has arisen among those classed, or from their having become too unwieldly for culture in pots or boxes. Of the genera thus cultivated in the open air, I enumerate all those that were named, or that I could recognise; few of them had a specific attached, and when such a thing did occur it was rarely intelligible, being most frequently in the Portuguese language, and sufficiently vague and unsatisfactory. Ex. gr. Amaryllis reginæ was marked Amaryllis vermelha com duas flores do Brasil (a red two-flowered Amaryllis from Brazil). Many genera too there were named in honour of their donors, or that had chanced to flower on some saint's day and bore his or her holy name; the generic appellations also being from Tournefort (many of which have long since merged into specific), in some instances, increased the difficulty.

The natural orders Cánneæ, Scitamíneæ, Bromèlia, Amaryllideæ, Laurineæ, Leguminòsæ, and Cacti were very rich, and contain most probably many genera entirely new, particularly Scitamíneæ, Amaryllideæ, and Cácti.

It may be necessary here to mention that the thermometer, at Lisbon, frequently falls as low as 29° and 27° of Fahr. I have seen the fountains in the Royal Garden covered with a thin coat of ice in the morning, when the year was as far advanced as April, without the plants appearing to suffer injury, with exception of Carica Papaya, killed in the winter of 1825 by frost supervening on rain; growing in an arenaceous soil, they seemed to be more retarded in growth by the want of moisture in summer, than by the humidity and cold of winter. Erythrina cárnea, E. fúsca, E. pícta, E. crísta gálli, flower well; the latter in autumn, winter, and spring, E. pícta ripens seed on a tree more than 15 ft. in height. Psidium pyríferum, P. pomíferum, both set their fruit, but they do not attain maturity; were the shrubs grown against a south wall instead of an exposed situation, there is little doubt the fruit would be perfected. Coffea occidentalis fruits freely; the plants flower in October, and the berries ripen in May and June following.

Laúrus Pérsea, Bùtea frondòsa, Bùtea supérba, Laúrus Cássia, Anacardium occidentale, Arèca Catechu, Borássus flabellifórmis, Convolvulus Ipecacuanha, Quisquàlis índica, Pitcaírnia bromeliafolia, Agàve Karátto, Furcroc a gigantèa, F. tuberòsa, Agave lùrida, Alpínia nutans, Cóstus speciosus, Tácca pinnatífida, Calyptránthes Jambolana, Maránta zebrìna, M.`arundinacea, Cinziber officinale, Cánna patens, Jasminum Sambac fl. plèno, J. hirsutum, Eranthemum pulchellum, Stachytárpheta mutábilis, Piper nigrum P. lóngum, Comoclàdia integrifòlia, Márica palmifòlia, Čalàdium bícolor, Euryale fèrox, Nelumbium speciosum, Nymphæ`a stellata, Commelina bengalénsis, Sáccharum officinàrum, Ixòra coccínea, Dorstènia Contrayérva, Convolvulus grandiflòra, Morínda umbellàta, Cérbera Ahoúai, Nerium odòrum fl. plèno, Mùsa paradisiaca, Hæmánthus coccínea, H. carinatus, Crìnum americànum, C. erubéscens, C. undulatum, C. amábile, C. cruéntum, Cyrtanthus obliquus, Brunsvígia falcata, Amaryllis vittàta, A. reginæ, A. aúlica, A. reticulata, A. pulverulenta, A. acuminata, Pancràtium littorale, P. undulàtum, P. Amáncaes, P. verecúndum, P. calathinum, Yucca aloefòlia, Aloe fèrox, A. foliòsa, A. verrucòsa, Acàcia pernambucàna, Mimòsa sensitiva, M. pudica, M. rubicaúlis, M. odoratíssima, Sterculia Balánghas, S. platanifòlia, Játropha Mánihot, Caméllia víridis, Sida arbòrea, Cactus hexagona, C. heptagona, C. tetragona, C. Ficus indica, C. elatior, C. cochinillífera, C. spinosíssima, all flower freely; but do not, except the Cacti, perfect seed. The plants that had not flowered when I last saw the garden, in 1826, were Diospyros sylvatica and ebènum, Ficus índica, Unòna odorata, Mimosa Ceratònia, Smilax zeylánica, Phoenix farinífera, P. dactylifera, Cròton Tiglium, Caryòta ùrens, Rhapis flabelliformis, Zamia integrifòlia, Córypha umbraculifera, Licuala spinosa, Draca`na fràgrans, Pitcairnia bracteata, Blètia Tankervilliæ, Mangífera índica, Achras Sapòta, Ardísia littoralis, Ipomoea brasiliensis.

(To be continued.)

ART. XI. On Straw or Reed Mats, as a Covering for Hot-houses and Hot-beds. By PETER LINDEGAARD, Esq. C.M.H.S., CourtGardener to the King of Denmark.

Sir,

I OBSERVE, in a late Number (Vol. III. p. 167.), a paper on the construction and use of straw mats in gardening, by Mr.

* To be understood as referring to those named or known.

Mr. Shennan is

Shennan, of which I very much approve. certainly right in saying that they produce a great saving of fuel, and afford a great security from accidents of different kinds; and I wish to add, that they afford also a very superior degree of temperature over common bass mats, and also allow the steam of moist hot-beds to pass easier off. When, as often happens in this country, a heavy fall of snow takes place during the night, the bass mats are not so easy to get cleaned and dried the next morning as the straw mats, because they retain the moisture, and get frozen and stiff by the frost penetrating through them; and the next evening they cannot be put on again, without great risk of breaking the glass. Straw or reed mats are also a great deal cheaper than Russia mats. Were I to use Russia mats in my forcing department, I should require more than 1000 mats for about 400 lights, which I now cover with 400 straw mats. It is evident, therefore, that the use of straw mats well deserves the attention of market-gardeners.

These mats may be made of rye or wheat straw, or of reeds. All I use are made by my workmen in the winter time, when the weather is too bad for working out of doors. I enclose a rough sketch (fig. 83.) to show how they are made.

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An oblong square is formed of four laths along the two ends of which (a a) are driven as many nails as you wish to have binding cords (b bbb bb), of which I never use fewer than six, as the strength of the mat depends chiefly on the number of these cords. The cords I use are of tarred ropeyarn; on these I lay the straw or reeds in handfuls, and bind.

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