REVIEWS. ART. I. The Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement. Conducted by J. C. Loudon, F. L. S., H. S., &c. In Monthly 8vo Numbers; 1s. 6d. each. No. LXXVI. for July. ART. 1 is a Notice of the Garden of Canonmills Cottage, the residence of Patrick Neill, Esq., LL. D., F. L. S., &c., with lists of the rare plants contained in, or figured and described from it." Canonmills Cottage has been the residence of Dr. Neill's family for upwards of a century. It is situated about a mile from the city of Edinburgh, and contains, in all, not more than half an acre and three poles of ground; but in this limited space there is included a greater store of botanical riches than is said to be found in any other suburban garden of even much greater extent in any part of Britain, or, perhaps, in the world. Annexed is a perspective view of the garden, as seen from the door of the dwelling-house, late in autumn. Of the rare plants growing in, and those figured and described from, the garden, we shall select only those which are of great interest or beauty, to show our readers how zealous Dr. Neill has been in the pursuit of botany and gardening. Nepenthes distillatòria. Both sexes of this plant have flowered, and seeds have been matured, from which many plants have been raised. Euphorbia Poinsettiana Grah. Flowered in Scotland for the first time in 1835. (See p. 294.) Solándra guttata. Ceropegia élegans. Sinningia guttata. Oncidium papílio. Renanthèra coccínea. Stanhopea élegans. Gloriosa supérba. This plant has repeatedly flowered here. The above are specimens of remarkable plants growing in the garden in 1835. The following have been figured from the garden since 1826. Francòa appendiculata. Bot. Mag. Gardoquia Gillièsii. Piptanthus nepalénsis. Hooker's Ex. Flor. Manéttia cordifolia. Nierembérgia grácilis. Bot. Mag. 66 intermèdia. Tropæ'olum pentaphyllum. Bot. Reg. Gaillardia pícta. Phlóx Drummondi. Physiánthus álbens. Bot. Mag. A great many fine plants have been described from this garden, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. A list of animals kept at Canonmills Cottage is given; but this would not, probably, be interesting to many of our readers. In the spring of the present year a rail-road was projected be. tween Edinburgh and Newhaven, and the line of direction laid down was unfortunately through Dr. Neill's garden. Dr. Neill petitioned parliament on the subject, but was finally obliged to submit. The following is the "Extent of Glass and number of Plants in Pots," as drawn up in his petition: "A span-roof conservatory, or cool green-house, thirty feet long, seventeen feet wide, and fourteen feet high, containing upwards of five hundred pots. A stove, or hot-house, twenty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and twelve feet high; above four hundred pots. A vinery, or warm green-house, of same dimensions as stove; three hundred and twenty pots. A large brick-built forcing, or warm pit, twenty feet long, with five double lights; four hundred pots at present-often above one hundred more. A cape bulb frame of three sashes; plants in the border. An orchis frame of four sashes; plants in the border. An Alpine frame of four sashes; two hundred and ten pots. A glazed house, ten feet high, for protecting plants in winter. The amount of pots with plants, at present, is above two thousand and thirty; and the number of species and varieties of plants, including trees and shrubs in the open ground, greatly exceeds one thousand." Dr. Neill is a great lover of gardening. The flourishing state of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, of which he is secretary, is mainly owing to his exertions. Dr. Neill is the author of many valuable papers in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Nicholson's Journal, Magazine of Natural History, Gardener's Magazine, &c. Art. 2 is a design for a cemetery; but a description of it would not be well understood without the accompanying engraving. The 3d article is a "descriptive notice, accompanied by plans and sections, of a range of forcing-houses," erected at Everingham Park, Yorkshire. In general appearance very similar to the elegant range at Belmont Place, though not on so large a scale. It includes a greenhouse, graperies, and peacheries. Art. 5, "On the mode in which Hyacinths are grown in the neighborhood of Berlin." Vast quantities of bulbs are grown in Berlin, and probably before long the number will be almost as great as that grown in Harlem, in Holland. We extract the remarks of the writer, made from a few notes taken when he visited these gardens: "You are well aware that the Dutch, of all other nations in the world, are the most successful in cultivating bulbs for sale. I might say that they carry this art to perfection; but the rapid strides which the growing of the hyacinth has of late years made in Berlin gives me every reason to think that, in a very few years, that city may rank with Holland, both as to quality and number. On the east side of the town of Berlin, within the walls, is a large tract of land, commonly called the Kopenicher Feld, formerly old pasture ground. Here a vast number of market gardeners have of late years established themselves; and among them men of capital and of taste are to be found, who, to enlarge the former and gratify the latter, have betaken themselves to the cultivation of bulbs for the market. Among the most important of these may be reckoned M. Krause, in the Fruchstrasse, who has not less than seven acres planted with hyacinths; and, from a calculation which I made, above one million of flowering bulbs, and half as many seedlings. From the immense number grown of one sort, this field (for so I must call it) has a grand appearance; the colors being so arranged as to resemble a rainbow; beginning with a light shade, which rises gradually to a dark blue, backed with red, which is lightly led away into a pure white, and so on in alternate shades to the end of the field." The kinds which M. Krause cultivates in large quantities are as follows: Single Reds.-Amiable Rosette, Gellert, Madame, L'Honneur de Sassenheim, Reine de Rouge, Riche en Fleurs, Rose a la Reine, Acteur, Superbíssima rubròrum, La Belle Rose. Double Reds.-Euterpe, Grossfurst, Hugo Grotius, Il Pastor Fido, Kosenkrantz, Von Flora, Superbe Royal. Single Blues.-La belle violette, Staaten-General, Appius, L'Ami de Cœur, Manteau, Vulcan. Double Blues.-A-la-mode, La bien Aimee, Nigritenne, Mon Ami, Duc de Penthèvre, Perle Brilliant. Single Yellows.-Aurore d'Or, Bouquet d'Orange, Jaune Meveille, La Pluie d'Or, Adonia. Double Yellows.-Bouquet d' Orange, La Favorite, Ophir. "M. Krause had also, I observed, about four acres of early tulips in a very vigorous state; the late ones were not in flower. Those which appeared to me to be the finest grown and in greatest quantity, were Duc Van Tholl, Grande Duchesse, Grootmeester Vån Maltha, Nit en roode borde, Standant, Tournesol, Rex rubrorum, Beauté Parfaite, Brant Van Harlem, Cerise Royal, Aurora Arachne; with an immense quantity of fine seedlings, too tedious to mention. The next in rank, as a bulb grower, may be reckoned M. Limprecht, in the Koppenstrasse. His collection of hyacinths, though not so large as the last, consists of bulbs, which are extra well grown. M. Limprecht forces, on an average, every year, from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand hyacinths, in pots, for the market. The early tulips were splendid. M. Limprecht has raised a variety of the Duc Van Tholl from seeds, which he calls Duc de Berlin. It is much larger and finer colored, and is said to force better than the original. Both the establishments which I have mentioned are kept in a very orderly and business-like manner. In fact, the market gardeners and florists in Berlin are rather a superior class of individuals: of the former you shall hear more at another opportunity. It would occupy too much room to enumerate here all the different gardeners that have turned their attention to this branch of floriculture, it having become general; but I cannot pass over the collection of M. D. Bouchi, in Blumenstrasse, 49 VOL. II.NO. X. it being one of the most select and numerous in Berlin as to sorts. M. Bouchi has long been celebrated as a florist; and, certainly, his garden is worth visiting, not only for the neat and orderly manner in which it is kept, but for the rich collection of auriculas which it contains, and, above all, the original and interesting habits of its owner. "The Berlin growers generally begin to plant their hyacinth bulbs about the latter part of October, or beginning of November; the ground having been, the previous spring, trenched to the depth of two feet, and enriched with good short dung, which is planted in summer with cauliflowers, kohlrabi, or stocks, the seeds of which are made an article of trade. The bulbs are planted about six inches deep, in rows parallel with the beds; the distance between the rows being regulated according to the habits of the kinds; so that they stand free of each other when in flower. Many fine sorts have been raised from seeds here; and, in general, the seedlings flower the third year. The beds are covered, in winter, with a thick layer of stable litter, which is removed early in spring. The ground appeared to be composed of two thirds of brown sand, with a portion of black vegetable earth; and the subsoil is a moist white sand. Although an immense quantity of hyacinths is required to supply the demand in Berlin itself, yet the greatest part of those grown in that city is sold to the Vienna and Saxony growers. In passing the streets of Berlin, scarcely a dwelling-house window is to be seen that is not decorated with flowering bulbs, from January till May." Our readers will perceive, by the latter part of the above extract, how general the taste for bulbous roots is in the city of Berlin. Indeed it is astonishing to notice the enormous number of hyacinths sold in that market, amounting to five times the number that are cultivated in the whole extent of this country. We have often been astonished to notice with what apparent carelessness many persons look upon the beauty of a fine collection of hyacinths; and how lightly their delicious fragrance is estimated. We know of no flowers that repay so well the labor bestowed on their cultivation; and their blooming at a season when there is not a vestige of summer to be seen, unless in the parlor or green-house, their value is doubly enhanced; added to this, their easy growth, the little room they occupy at the window or on the mantel of any house, the long period at which their flowers continue in beauty, and they possess attractions to be found in very few flowers. One reason, we suspect, why good hyacinths are less often seen, is, that most of the number that are grown are procured at auction, and are small, miserable roots, with not strength enough to produce a good bloom; these, in a majority of cases, afford only disappointment to the purchaser, who expected to have an elegant display; and he is thus often deterred from again attempting to cultivate them. On the contrary, if the roots were procured from some responsible seedsman, who receives his annual assortment of bulbs from some house in Holland, on whom he can rely for the excellency of his roots, they seldom fail to disappoint the grower, but generally flower in such beauty as to induce him to give them more attention, and, when the season again comes round, double his stock. We are certain that if this precaution was taken, we should hear less complaints of the beauty of hyacinths, and of the scanty display they make for the trouble taken in their cultivation. Art. 6, "on the mode of producing two crops of grapes from the same vines in one year. In this article the writer states that when he took charge of the vines, in April, 1833, he found that his predecessor had forced them since November, 1832: the whole crop in two pits did not exceed five pounds; his method is detailed as follows: "In November, 1833, I began to force the west pit; and, by the end of March, 1834, I had a pretty good crop of grapes, according to the strength of the vines, fit to cut; and, by the end of April, all the grapes were gathered. The other pit succeeded. I immediately threw open the west pit, after pruning the vines, and filled the border with night soil. About June, the buds began to push, and they opened strong. I then shut up the pit, and gave very little air, and plenty of water, but no fire; and on December 1834, I had a fine crop of grapes fit to cut, and well colored; besides my vines having made good wood, and the other pit coming in, as before, in succession. In the autumn of 1835, I had another still larger crop of finer fruit; and, if my employer had not been so very much alarmed at the expense of about £12 [upwards of fifty dollars] for coals, I should have had another crop fit to cut this last February, which would have been four crops in one year and eleven months; and the vines as strong again as they were when I first had the care of them, and producing double the quantity of fruit." MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. ART. I. General Notices. Chinese Method of Dwarfing Trees.-The Chinese are remarkable for their taste in wishing to have even the most stupendous objects in nature in miniature: mountains, rocks, lakes, rivers, aged trees, must all be represented and modelled upon a scale of a few inches. The former are formed of natural fragments, curiously and fantastically cemented together, leaving water-tight hollows and little channels, to represent lakes and rivers. The dwarfed trees are, however, very curiously trained, requiring considerable skill, and a considerable period of time, to get the trees into the desired form. The trees which they commonly choose to train as dwarfs are, their native juniper (J. chinensis), the dwarf elm (Ulmus pùmila), and the Indian fig (F. indica). The means employed in dwarfing these plants are,-keeping them always in the same pot-allowing but little earth for them to grow in, the pot being half filled with rugged stones, which jut out of the surface; among these some of the roots are brought out, |