of some British gentlemen of high agricultural character, who had solicited to become members of the Rouen Society, and promised to become regular correspondents, but who have never said or done any thing for the Society since. We were not at all surprised at the Abbé's statement; for who in England, that is not independent, can afford to love any art or science purely for its own sake? The Abbé informed us that the Rouen Society had for a number of years past been persuading the farmers to leave off naked fallows, as recommended by the Board of Agriculture; but they now found that those who took their advice had rendered their land so foul, that half the crop produced was weeds, and the Society were at present recommending fallows again. The Abbé Gossier has been some time in England and in Scotland, and is an intelligent, liberal, and most amiable man, worthy of the ease and elegance in which he lives, and of that which alone seems wanting to complete his happiness. We are happy to have formed so interesting an acquaintance in a part of France which we so much admire, and which, if we ever leave England, will be the place of our retirement. We are obliged by the honour he has done us in procuring our election as a corresponding member of the Rouen Agricultural Society; and if we do not fulfil the expectations of the Society any better than other British members, we at any rate did not solicit the honour, and, on receiving it, made no promises.

A small Villa near Quevilly. The grounds, which are but little varied, may contain 30 or 40 acres; the house is a part of a large château; and the general impression of the whole is, that of a deserted and neglected residence, on a site capable of being made something. An Englishman who has not left his own country cannot form an idea of such apparent wretchedness as these grounds present; and yet the proprietor was said to be a man of wealth, and he must have known what comfort is, for there is a newly-formed and well-stocked kitchen-garden. This kitchen-garden was laid out by M. Prevost (p. 372.), and contains examples of his mode of training peach trees à la Forsyth; i. e. allowing the shoot from the bud to form a main stem, and laying in the laterals horizontally, or at a very large angle. The tree is thus never cut at all. It soon rises to the top of the wall and bears fruit; but it seldom fills the wall regularly, and, when any branch dies, it is not so easily filled up as by the fan method of training, which, even for an easy method, is greatly to be preferred. It is but justice to M. Prevost, however, to state that he wishes the trees to be cut so as in the end to present the appearance of Mr. Forsyth's apricot tree (E. of G. p. 720.

fig. 493.); but, judging from appearances in this garden, the desired result is not very likely to be attained. The walls, which were of rubble stone, were covered with a wooden trellis, and to this the shoots of the trees were tied with withered rushes; but the gardener here seemed to have no idea of filling every part of the wall with shoots. In short, in this operation, as in most others, an English gardener has nothing to learn, in exactness and neatness, from his brethren in France. This garden was very neatly laid out; the walks edged with box, and covered with granite pounded to about the size of peas; the borders planted with dwarfs, except in the angles formed by the turnings and intersections, where a tree trained en pyramide was planted. In the compartments we observed beds and rows of Perfumed Cherry (Cérasus Mahaleb Mil., bois de St. Lucie, Fr.), which were intended for forming plantations of coppice, that wood being highly prized for fuel on account of its agreeable odour. The stems of some apricot trees from which the gum had issued were covered with what seemed to be pitch, and thatched with wheat straw to exclude the influence of the sun. On the whole, the garden was in good order, and is the only part of the residence that we can recall to mind with any satisfaction. The gardener, Claudel le Coint, is a good-humoured man, walks in sabots when in his garden, but puts on shoes when he goes to Rouen; reads, occasionally, gardening books as well as chansons à boire, and says he can write comme il faut. In our next we shall notice the other country seats which we visited in the neighbourhood of Rouen.

(To be continued.)

ART. II. Some Account of the Duke of Northumberland's Improvements in the Kitchen-Garden and Forcing-Department at Syon. By the CONDUctor.

THE improvements in these gardens, as we have formerly observed (Vol. I. p. 349. and II. p. 107.), were commenced in April, 1826, by the construction of a boundary wall along the public lane from Brentford to Isleworth (fig. 99. a a), the erection of an excellent house for the gardener (b), and the general reformation of the surface and walks of the kitchen-garden. The ground within the walls contains between three and four acres, a quantity which may appear rather small for so large a family; but it must be considered that the Duke of Northumber

land's residence at Syon is but for a short period of the year. The chief disadvantage of too small a garden, as far as it concerns the gardener, is, the obligation it imposes on him of growing vegetables on the fruit-tree borders, in consequence of which the trees never do much good. By a reference to the plan

there will be observed the situation of the range of forcing-houses (cd), of the pits (ee), melon ground (f), and asparagus beds (g). The pits are remarkably complete, and we shall, on a future occasion, give detailed plans and sections of them as models for imitation. The melon ground is very small,

but as that has not yet undergone any alteration, we have no doubt it will eventually be enlarged so as to be in proportion to the other departments. The asparagus and sea-kale beds are cased with pigeon-hole brick walls, which admit linings of dung or leaves 24-ft. wide between, so that a crop is obtained every year with less trouble and expense, and of a better quality, than by any other method. These beds are very complete, and the pigeon-hole walls, which sometimes give way when not carefully treated, have a coping of castiron, which coping, having two depending sides, holds the upper course of bricks firmly in its place, and these retain all which are below. We do not know who invented this mode of forcing in brick beds, but we consider it by far the best for main forced crops of sea-kale and asparagus; and, we have no doubt, it might be applied with equal advantage to forcing potatoes, radishes, lettuces, turnips, carrots, cauliflowers, peas, and many other kitchen crops; some of which might require to be covered with glass frames, or with hoops and mats, or, as at Britton Hall, with wickerwork.

The whole of the water from the roofs of the forcing-range and back sheds, and from all the pits, is conducted by pipes to a cast-iron tank (h) containing 20,000 gallons, out of which are supplied a water-cistern in every house, and also a steamboiler, which is used in the forcing-houses for the purpose of producing vapour at pleasure in any of the divisions. We consider this reservoir of rain-water of great importance for successful forcing, and the growth of plants generally; no water whatever being found equal to that produced in the atmosphere, and the water of several subsoils being found injurious to vegetation, especially to heaths and other Cape and New Holland plants. For watering in the open air, the water is drawn from this tank by a pump (i). There is also a pump (k) of common underground water, for the purposes of cleaning, in the back sheds and other places; a degree of cleanliness being maintained, of which we have already (Vol. II. p. 108.) pointed out the advantages. The whole of the pit and frame department is enclosed with box hedges about 24 ft. high, kept neatly clipped (177); and their effect, at all seasons, is particularly handsome, rendering this part of the garden as neat, and even as ornamental, as the part in front of the forcing-range.

The soils and composts are kept in a secluded department (m), and there is an excellent contrivance for delivering and keeping the coals which well deserves attention. The coalhouse (n) holds upwards of 150 chaldrons; all of which are carried up ladders to the roof by the coal-merchant (who de

livers them in sacks, as is usual about London), and poured through three small holes (ooo) in the roof, which is a perfect security from stealing, and saves much labour. When wanted for the back sheds, the coals are taken out by a door which opens into the compost ground. The coals for the head-gardener's use are also delivered from the lane, through the roof, into a small shed (p) opening into the yard attached to his house (g).

The cultivated part of the garden, in front of the forcingrange, was begun to be altered in July, 1826. The old hothouses being taken down, and the walks grubbed up, the surface was reduced to determinate levels, new walks formed, so as to throw the whole into compartments and borders, and the soil was every where renewed, or prepared with a mixture of good new soil, to the depth of three feet. The gravel of which the walks are formed was dug out of particular portions of the subsoil, and its place filled with rubbish from the removed buildings, and with exhausted soil, waste gravel, &c., which would otherwise have required to be carted away. The circumstance of procuring the gravel in this way, and at the same time getting rid of the rubbish, must have saved a very considerable expense. The perfect level of the walk in front. of the range (rr), the uniform slopes from it of the north and south walks (ssss), the regularity of the borders and of the compartments, equal, in this kind of beauty, any thing we ever saw. Nothing can be finer in the way of a kitchengarden view, than the appearance of the forcing-range, and of the garden in front of it, when entering at the main door (t), and walking up the central walk (ts). The upper border (uuuu) is planted with the finest sorts of Flemish pears, to be trained en pyramide; the other borders are planted with a complete collection of all the select table apples (dwarfs) on paradise stocks. Detached trees and dwarfs are preferred, as admitting more sun and air to the vegetables around them, and because, on the whole, such trees are more certain of producing a crop in adverse seasons than espaliers. The reason of this is, an espalier hedge has only two sides, and the whole of the blossom and crop is on the surface; whereas a globular or a regular bush has many sides, and has blossoms and fruit in the interior among its branches, as well as on its outer surface. On the south side of the south wall is a useful border (vv), bounded by a sunk fence, on the top of which is a holly hedge to be kept about 3 ft. high. Beyond this border is a carriage road, which leads from the public lane (a a) to the farm offices which are situated southward of the garden (w). Opposite to the main entrance of the garden (t) is the