the Horn for framing and all early purposes. Never sow them till the latter end of March or beginning of April, for a general crop, and sow in drills 1 ft. apart; and hoe in the same sort of way as for the onions, taking them in time as soon above ground.

as seen

Parsneps will grow good with the above management, but like a richer and heavier soil, and should be sown in drills.

Spinach I always sow in drills the same distance, making a good preparation, and sowing the principal winter crop about the 12th of August; indeed, I sow every thing in drills.

Lettuce all the summer months I sow in drills, and thin and hoe out, as they are so apt to get checked when planted out in hot weather, and to run to seed; but sowing in drills, with constant hoeing, keeps them growing healthily.

I think I shall not dwell longer at present on kitchengardening, but give you an occasional letter on any subject that I may hereafter consider useful. To sum up all in a few words, trench the ground and throw it into rough ridges immediately after any crop is done with; choose good and proper seasons for every crop, that is, the right season for putting it into the ground. Hoe and fork the ground at every opportunity; but never get trampling on it when in a very wet state, or it will soon become soured and unkind. By following the above method you will never be troubled much with slugs, snails, or any other sort of vermin, but have all vegetables sweet, clean, and wholesome.

Bicton Gardens, Nov. 30. 1842.

[In answer to several enquirers, we beg to state that Mr. Barnes's mode of pine-growing will be given in the December or January Number, we are not certain which. A gardener, who writes to us on this subject, says that he was at Bicton on the 8th of September, and saw queen pine-apples which numbered sixteen pips in depth!! He fully corroborates all Mr. Cruickshank says (p. 547.) as to the vigour of the greenhouse and hothouse plants; and he mentions a musa sucker, which had grown 33 ft. high between January and June last.]

ART. IV. Notice of a Visit to Bicton Gardens in August 1843, with Remarks on the Culture practised there, and on the State of some of the Plants. By JAMES CRUICKSHANK, Gardener to the Right Honourable the Earl of Lonsdale, at Lowther Castle.

THROUGH the kind permission of my present employer, the Earl of Lonsdale, I have lately visited Bicton Gardens, so fully

described by yourself last season (see our Vol. for 1842, p. 552.), and by the original but straightforward letters of Mr. Barnes, the gardener there.

I must confess his description of the plants, and his mode of treating them, seemed to some of us in the North not a little marvellous; or, at least, we put them down, as we do some of the advertisements of dahlias, as not to be depended on: but, having seen the gardens and plants at Bicton, I am bound to state, in justice to Mr. Barnes, that I never was so surprised and pleased in my life. There are not many places that a gardener can visit but what he may find fault with, or have reason to do so on careful examination; but I must say I carefully inspected the gardens at Bicton, and found every department in the highest state of cultivation, both as regards the crops, and the keeping and general management of the gardens and plants, which are such, as, in my humble opinion, do Mr. Barnes great credit.

The plants have been so fully described by yourself, and Mr. Barnes in his series of letters, that it would be useless for me to attempt a description; but I cannot avoid mentioning some of the most extraordinary specimens that I have ever seen, viz. Lechenaúltia formòsa and L. bíloba, the ericas in general, and Erica Massoni such a splendid specimen that I do not think there is the like of it in England, or in the United Kingdom. If any gardener should have the least doubt of what I have stated, I would advise him to visit Bicton and judge for himself. I am sure Mr. Barnes will be very glad to show a brother dener any thing there is to be seen there.

Lowther Castle Gardens, Aug. 19. 1843.

gar

ART. V. On Laying out and Planting the Lawn, Shrubbery, and Flower-Garden. By the Conductor.

(Continued from p. 499.)

THE designs figs. 118. and 119. are flower-gardens characterised by curvilineal walks; and the reason of this is, that these designs are adapted for a surface either raised in the middle and falling towards the sides, or raised at the sides and falling to the centre.

Hitherto the designs that we have given in this article have been for surfaces comparatively flat and level; but the two now before us are calculated for hilly ground or hollows. The reason why curvilineal walks are adapted for hilly ground is, that all sloping surfaces are most easily ascended or descended in directions oblique to their line of slope. When a slope is perfectly regular, like an inclined plane or the glacis of a fortification, the oblique walk by which it is to be traversed may be a straight line, but in every other case curvilineal lines will be found preferable, because less fatiguing, and consequently more agreeable to walk on.

Such designs as those before us are peculiarly suitable for some parts of Scotland, where, in the case of a hollow, the plants may be such as require moist soil or peat earth; and, in the case of a hill, such as delight in dry sandy soil.

In England we have seen such gardens (certainly on a smaller scale than those here represented) formed on artificial knolls; and we could refer to

a

Fig. 118. Flower-Garden adapted for a Hill with a Sandy Soil.
Scale 24 ft. to an inch.

one in which the walks are not laid with gravel or edged in any way, but planted with different species and varieties of dwarf thyme, such as mother of thyme, lemon thyme, green thyme, variegated thyme, &c. For example: in the design, fig. 118., the longest walk consists of a series of loops intersecting one another: this walk may be planted with mother of thyme, and the short straight walks which join the loops may be planted with green

thyme; the central walk, including the segments which touch on the water, may be planted with variegated thyme; and the intermediate walk, which consists of four semicircles joined together, may be planted with lemon thyme, which would contrast well with the hoary grey of the mother of thyme, the deep green of the green thyme, and the white variegation of the variegated thyme.

As a further contrast, the small beds, forming, as it were, horns to the octagon basin in the centre, are proposed to be planted with dwarf box, to be shorn quite short in every month of June, so as to present a compact, dark, evergreen surface. The beds for flowers should be planted or sown with dwarf sorts having brilliant colours, so as to contrast strongly with the green of the paths. The outside margin between the paths and the walk 6, and also the broad flat border c, we propose to be planted with dwarf box; and among this green box we propose to plant variegated tree box, so disposed as that, when it is grown a few inches higher than the green box, it may be clipped into an arabesque pattern, in which the forms and lines exhibited in the main figure shall be prevalent; while, at the same time, these lines shall be so combined with straight lines as to harmonise with the boundary lines of the walk b, the narrow border at the base of the parapet, and the parallelogram beds at d. Each of the parallelogram beds (d), it will be seen, contains a pedestal for a vase, though the engraver has omitted the basement of stone on which they stand, and which is made to connect them with the gravel of the walk. Without this connexion, or something equivalent, they would not be architecturally placed; for, as we have often stated, architectural or sculptural objects ought never to appear but where they are in some way or other connected with architecture or sculpture. Hence few things are in worse taste than pedestals rising out of turf or dug beds. There may be a fountain in the centre, where the situation admits of one; but at all events there should be a basin of living water, without which, as Switzer observes, a flower-garden is "drought and misery." a is a walk connecting the scene with the house, the conservatory, the kitchen-garden, or whatever other architectural feature it is to adjoin. No detached shrubs whatever are introduced in this design, except a few very low ones, to be trained to the wall at c; nor any tall herbaceous plants, because the stagnation of the air which these would produce would be highly injurious to the different kinds of thyme, and prevent them from giving out their fragrance when walked on. It may be proper to observe, that the boundary lines of the walk b are to be made curvilineal at the angles, so as to harmonise with the larger beds; and that attention to the principle of harmony must be had in designing the parapet, and in working pedestals into it, and placing vases on them, so as to harmonise the low wall with the pedestals and vases at d d. trances, or subordinate entrances, may also be made opposite these pedestals. Persons who have any predilection for the fragrance of any of the varieties of the thyme recommended for planting the paths in this design, will have no difficulty in reaching the paths containing that variety, and the fragrance, particularly on days in which there is not much sunshine, and in the mornings and evenings, will be found most delightful. When it is inconvenient to plant the whole width of the paths with thyme, edgings will have the effect to a certain extent, as they are necessarily more or less trod upon; and those who do not wish to take so much trouble may have the walks of gravel and sow mignonette in the edgings. As to the flower-beds, a very rich effect will be produced by planting them with dwarf dahlias of dark colours, and pegging them down. By supposing the walk b to be 6 ft. wide, a scale to the whole will be easily obtained, viz. 24 ft. to an inch.

Main en

The design fig. 119. is supposed to be adapted to a hollow where the soil is peat, and, as appears by the five basins of water, either naturally moist, or within ready access to an abundant supply. None of the plants planted in this design should ever be such as rise above a foot in height, but the prefer

ence ought to be given to those which do not exceed two thirds of that height. These kinds may be all the truly dwarf sorts of the Linnæan genus Erica; indeed the design would make an excellent ericacetum, or, if the soil is dry, it would, planted with dwarf helianthemums, make an excellent cistinetum. Among the peat-earth plants that may be used are, Azalea procúm

bens, Epiga'a rèpens, Gaulthèria procumbens, Empetrum nigrum, Kálmiz angustifolia nàna, Daphne Cneòrum, Rhododendron caucásicum and R. Chamæcístus, Vaccinium Vitis idæ a, V. i. màjor, and V. i. mìnor. The edgings to these beds may be made of Vaccinium Vitis idæ`a.

If the source of water be sufficiently high, there may be small jets or drooping fountains in the five basins; and, if possible, it should be so con