. . .="pagenum">{39} used, it is necessary to discriminate between kinds that should be planted out in a young state every year, and those which are valuable in proportion to their age and size. Some plants are all the better the higher and larger they are grown; others must be started in a dwarf fresh state every year, or, if not, their foliage will not possess that pristine freshness which charms us when they are properly treated. A large plant of Polymnia grandis, for example, would, if placed in the open air in early summer, speedily become a far from attractive object, while a young plant of the same kind, put out on the same day, would soon produce and carry to the end of the season a mass of fresh and noble leaves. But of course this only applies to kinds that grow rapidly during the summer months in our climate.

With respect to the preparation of the beds for the finer subtropical plants, a peculiar mode is practised in Battersea Park. Here many of the bed. . . Read More