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( ' U t o i i
year»; Love-applB, Capsicum tribe, and Egg-plant, two
years. ,
-4«>i«ai and biennial floicer-eeeds, generally two years; but!
some grow with difficulty tlie second y e a r: tliey are seldom I
kept by seedsmen longer than one year. |
Perennial floicer-scede, the same.
Tree-seeds. Stones, two years: aud some, as the Haw, three;
but thoy ave in general of very doubtful success the second
yeiir; Acorns will scarcely grow the second year; Ehn,
Poplar, and Willow seeds, not at all.
6390. AU seeds ought to be kept dry, and the air excluded as much as possible; but those
liable to be attacked by insects, as the pea, bean, tuiTiip, radish, &c., should be occasionr
ally exposed to air aud friction, by being passed through a ivinnowing machine. The
more rare seeds should be kept in their pods till the season for using. Seeds received
from foreign countries should, in general, be sown as soon as possible after their arrival.
In packing seeds for the home demand, no particular process is requisite ; but in sending
seeds to America or the East Indies, the sorts which soon lose their vitality should be
enveloped in clay, tallow, or wax, or put up in bottles rendered air and water tight.
6391. Bulbous roots, with the exception of the anemone and ranunculus, can only be
kept out of the ground a few months with propriety, though some are often found in the
seed-shops as late as May. When thoroughly dry they may be kept in hags or boxes,
and the more delicate sorts wrapped up in papers separately. Ranunculus and anemone
roots retain thcir vegetative powers two, aud sometimes three years.
6392. The English seed-yroioers and secd-collectors furnish the greater part of culinary,
flower, aud indigenous tree seeds sold in the shops ; but a part also are obtained from
other countries; as of onion-seed from Genoa ; anise, basil, &c., from the south of
France; carrot, onion, and a variety of sceds, when the English crop fails, from Holland.
The hardier bulbs, as crocus, daffodil, &c., are for the most part grown in England : the
other hardy sorts are obtained from Guernsey, as the Guernsey lily; the Cape of Good
Hope, as ixia, gladiolus, &c ; from South America, as the tuberose ; or China, as the
Japan lily, &c. The seeds of tender exotic trees and shrabs are obtained from the sced-
collectors at the Cape, New Holland, and other foreign settlements ; and of others from
North America.
6393. The recommendation o f head gardeners forms an important part of a nurseryman’s
duty and care, and one in which he may render essential services to horticulture. Ho
ought to select such as are well qualified for what they undertake, and consider himself
as in some degree responsible for the conduct of the person recommended. In addition
to this, the nurseryman, iu the yearly tour he generally makes among his country customers
to receive payments and take orders, should observe wliether the person recommended
has acted according to his expectations, and should exhort, reprove, or approve
accordingly. The nurseryman, while on his tour, by seeing a number of gardens and
gardeners, must, by comparison, be well able to judge of their merits ; and by judiciously
dealing out approbation or blame, might do much good. The good gardener, who had
become slovenly, from not seeing other gardens, or from the indifference of his employer,
might thus be recalled to his duty, and the art not suffered to be disgraced by his practice.
This is also the time for gentlemen to state to nurserymen the faults they have to
find with their gardeners, so that they, by their advice, may endeavour to correct them.
The nurseryman who has recommended a gardener, is the only person who can act as a
mediator between this gardener and his employer; and we repeat that, by the judicious
interference of well-informed and experienced nurserymen, mnch good might be done ;
gardens kept in better order, and gardeners improved and retained, instead of being
removed from their situations without being properly infonned of tlieir cn’ors, and a
proper opportunity afforded them of amendment.
S k c t . III. Public Gardens.
6394. There ai'e very few public gardens in Britain ; and we can only refer to the
enclosed areas of the public squares and parks of the metropolis and principal cities, to
the botanic gardens of the universities and other public bodies, and to the gardens of tlic
numerous horticultiu'al societies.
6395. The public squares are generally kept in order by jobbing gardeners at a certain
rate by the year. The principal part of their business consists in keeping the grass
short, by mowing once a fortnight in summer, and rather seldoraer in spring and
autumn; in keeping the gravel clean, and keeping up a display of flowers iu the dug
groups.
6396. The public parks, and other equestrian promenades, are mostly managed by
ofiicm-s appointed by government: being once formed, and the trees grown up, they
require little annual expense. The Regent’s Park was, at first, in part let as nursery-
ground, and, instead of a rent, the occupier was bound to plant a certain number of trees
the first year of his lease, to nurse up these, and leave a certain number of them on each
acre at the end of his lease. This nursery-ground is now the gai'den of the Royal
Botanic Society. A considerable part of this park has also been let to private persons
for the purpose of erecting villas, which, though it controls the rambles of the pedestrian,
gives and will maintain a woody appearance, without any expense to the public.
6397. The botanic gardens of the universities ai'e under the general direction of the
professor of botany, and managed by a head gardener or curator : those founded by
subscribers, or a society, are under the direction of a committee, and similarly managed.
The duties common to curators are the keeping uj) and increasing the collection of plants ;
those who manage university-gardens have, in addition, to furnish specimens of certain
plants in sufficient numbers for the use of the professor and students. Li some cases, the
curator is required to instinct students, aud in others, he is permitted to do this and to
take pupils or apprentices for his owu emolument. Most gardens exchange, and some,
as that of Liverpool, sell plants and seeds.
6398. On tke cultivation of botanic gardens we shall offer only a few general hints. Instead of the principle
oirotation,\5 here substituted th&toi arenewal, partial or wholly, of the soil. On shallow soils it is
to be effected by removal of the whole or a proportion of the old soil, and the introduction and thorough
mixture oi a proportionate quantity of good virgin loam, or of virgin peat, bog, or sand, according to the
plot or border to be renewed. In rockworks, and bogs, American grounds, and in most of w hat may be
caWedparticular habitats, there is no other way ; b u t in the plots which contain the general arrangements,
deep trenchmg may partially or wholly supply its place.
6399. Manure cannot altogether be dispensed with in botanic gardens, particularly for some or most of
th e vegetables which will be included under the culinary, agricultural, and flower-garden departments ;
but, in general, decayed leaves form the best manure for all other plants and trees, not in a state of monstrosity
or otherwise changed by cuUivation.
6400. Sheltering and shading are parts of culture which demand very considerable attention in botanic
gardens, especially in warm climates. Delicate plants which require a moist atmosphere, as some alpines
ancl Americans, require to be closely covered with a hand-glass, and this again partially with a wicker
case during the whole summer, even if under the shade of a wall or hedge.
6401. In sowing, and causing to vegetate, seeds which have been brought fr om a distance, a good deal of
skill is often requisite. Sowing in very fine earth in pots, covering them with a bell, and placing them
in the shade and in moist heat, is th e most likely mode to succeed, whatever climate the seeds may have
been sent from. To this, some add previous steeping of the seed in pure water, and in water impregnated
with oxygenated muriatic acid. Others water with water impregnated with this acid or with its
gas ; some charge th e earth of the pot with th e gas, aud others invert a bell-glass over it, containing an
atmosphere partly or wholly composed of the gas. (See Ilill, in Hort. Trans., vol. i. p. 233.) All these
modes, and others suggested by vegetable chemistry, may be tried ; but where the vital principle is not
extinct, the first mode will generally be found sufficient. Numerous annual and biennial seeds require
to be sown every year, independently o f seeds of new sorts from foreign countries. For collections of
these in beds or in a general arrangement, th e mode of sowing in rows across the bed is obviously the
best ; and several rows radiating from a polygonal tally in th e centre is the most economical, as admitting
o fth e greatest number of sorts in th e least space.
6402. With respect to management, there are various duties belonging to the office
of curator of a public botanic garden which are peculiar to the situation ; some of which
we shall briefly enumerate.
6403. Gathering and drying specimens to maintain th e herbarium and to exchange or give away ; frequently
inspecting the herbarium to guard against damp and moths ; collecting and preserving seeds of
every kind for the purposes of exchange.
6404. Collecting wild plants, and seeking for new species in proper situations ; in unfrequented haunts
for herbaceous plants ; in haunts much frequented by birds, for trees ; in bays aud sheltered creeks and
shores for aquatics ; in rocky shores for marine plants ; among the tops of snow-clad mountains in winter,
for mosses ; in old forests in winter for lichens, and in spring for •e s is 111 w i i i i e r lo r i ic iie iis , a i iu in s p r u ig l u r lfuuinigg ii ,, aa nu du ssuo uonu ..
6405. Acclimatising plants, by raising them from seeds, one generation after another, or proving their
hardness by inuring them to the open air, appears to us one of th e most important of the services a
botanic curator can render the horticulture and agriculture of his country.
6406. Distributing seeds, cuttings, and plants q f all suits, among all who are likely to keep them, and
set a due value on them, b u t to none else. T h e liberality of the administrators of some gardens, in this
respect, has been much and deservedly praised. T h e surest mode of preserving a plant in the country is
to render it as common as possible; and the easiest mode of effecting this is, to distribute a few specimens
amongthe nurserymen. From an opposite conduct, many of the plants introduced at Kew, and described
in th e Hortus Kewensis, were, only a very few years afterwards, not to be found in th e Kew gard en ;
and, thus, never having been distributed, are lost to the country. The policy of this garden, however,
is now completely changed, and it is become every thing that can be desired.
6407- Giving the name and histo7-y ( f plants to aU eager enquirers, in order ..
botanical knowledge; to induce a taste for botany and the vegetable kingdom, by pointing out striking
peculiarities of pla—ntO’Ts- Ato. ._s_u_p_e_.raf.iIcrioall orobWs-reor-.v.. reo —r sro , in ordero-r. tAoro arotAtAr —a rocrotA tAhUero.i’r— arot At Aeron—tAi 1o ronrt.; . tAryrt.i•«n»g./> tAort . prto.rtki.nrt.t A rotk.u 1At
things which may assimilate with the taste or foible of th e person addressed ; recollecting th a t sexual
matters, and matters bordering on the marvellous, are the most generally attractive to volatile or vacant
minds: in this way “ becoming all things to all men. In order, by all means, to gain some.”
6408. Disseminating and dispersing seeds and plants of scarce natives, or of foreign sorts not yet naturalised,
by placing them in their proper soils and habitats. Thus, when the aquatic plants are reduced,
throw the parts taken from ra re ones, into an adjoining ditch, lake, canal, or riv e r; scatter the seeds, and
plant th e roots of wood-plants in plantations; arenarious plants on sandy soils or shores, and so on.
Curator Anderson of the Chelsea Garden scattered all his spare seeds on Battersea, Clapham, and Wandsworth
commons, and threw his spare aquatics into the Thames. T h e consequence is, that, though only
a few years practised, some rather scarce plants seem already naturalised in these places. Dickson, an
enthusiastic botanist, naturalised th at beautiful plant, the freshwater soldier, in the ponds about Croydon;
as we have done the same plant, and several others, in the Serpentine Canal in Hyde Park. Salisbury,
one of the first botanists of the age, and equally eminent as a horticulturist, thinking he could naturalise
sandy shores the Pancratium marítimum, planted a bulb in the Isle of W ight, among Chtyidònium
ilàtum, and P rin g ium marítimum, with which he saw it growmg wild below Montpelier (Hort.
corniculdtum,and
P ra n j., vol. i. p. 3 . . -rt, ----
in th e Whitsuntide holidays, for helping to proi
bounds to know the name of it a t North Bierly.”
Trans vol. i. p. 341.) ; “ and when a t school, in the neighbourhood of Halifax, in 1769, he was flogged,
• - •• u ' - - - A.,.. A-----------------------the Narcissus triáadrus, and for running out of
6409. A catalogue of evci'y botanic gai-den should be printed for exchange, distribution,
or sale. Very complete gardens, such as those of Ivew, Cambridge, and
Liverpool, find it answer to publish printed catalogues, with a view to remuneration by
sale ; but the legitimate object of a botanic garden catalogue is, to exchange it with that
of otlier botanic gai'dens, foreign and domestic ; in order that, by compai'ison of riche>,
4 K 4
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