Figs. 22. and 25. will explain all that is necessary respecting the vineries, except a leaden pipe, three fourths of an inch in diameter, perforated with holes from the upper side, about half a line in diameter, and 1 ft. apart, conducted all round, about 1 in. above the uppermost hotwater pipe, and connected with a cistern, a little elevated, for the purpose of raising vapour, by moistening the hot pipes. 25 Transverse Section of the Vinery. Through the pine stoves, the leading and return pipes will pass to the green-house. In the back of the pine stoves cucumbers may be grown in pots, 24 ft. deep, and 13 in. in diameter, filled with rich turf (turf is indispensable; and, whether rich or poor, let it be turf); one half of the pot plunged in the tan, and the other let into the wall of the pit, leaving only a brick on edge between the hot-water pipes and the cucumber pot; and let the cucumber vines be trained on a trellis over the back path, 16 in. from the glass. 26 27 The orchideous house will have, also, ferns and mosses on the back, and over the circular stand of conglomerated bricks in the centre; the stage around the front and ends will be cemented so as to hold water, in which pans will Section of the Orchideous Section of the Peach House. be placed, for the purpose of putting the orchideous pots upon them, 28 Of the peach houses nothing need be said, only that the trellises will be circular at the ends. The centre of the green-house will be supported by ten pillars, on which creepers and twiners may be trained. The plant stove will be for forcing flowers and propagating, as well as for stove plants. The pits and frames will have a dung lining between them. The walks will be of stone, 4 ft. wide, raised Section of the Plant Stove. 1 in. in the middle, with gratings in the gutters, 9 ft. apart. The roofs of all the houses will be supported on hollow cast-iron pillars; and all round the walks, on both sides, there will be 3 ft. of lath and plaster, and 23 ft. of upright glass, made to slide into the opaque part, after the manner of a coach window; and through. this window every thing must be exhibited, as no guest is to be admitted into any of the houses. It will be observed, that the wall between the sheds and stoves will be lath and plaster; and that the hollow pillars around the walks will be in pairs: one will contain the window-sinkers, and the other conduct the water VOL. XIII.- No. 83. F from the gutters to the sewer. The pathway will be covered with lead or zinc, and have several ventilators in the roof. The rafters of all the houses will be of iron, and all the sashes of wood, with every lap of glass made air-tight. Every house shall contain a water-tank, built of bricks and cement, below the level of the floor, and be supplied from a leaden pipe, with a ballcock. Let no one imagine, by this arrangement, that I prefer having flowers in the kitchen-garden; on the contrary, I think the departments should always be separated where there is sufficient extent but in the villa gardens near London, for which this paper is designed, structures for exotic plants are not unfrequently strewn about like the tents of a Turkish camp: here a vinery propping up the walls of a mansion, and there a house of flowering plants, in an obscure nook of the culinary department, with a border of lettuce in front. Isleworth, Aug. 18. 1836. ART. VII. Notice of a remarkable Woodland District in Scotland, still in its natural State; comprising the Head of Strathspey, in Badenoch, and the Forest of Braemar. By H. B. HAVING read with much pleasure several of the articles in your late Numbers headed "Scottish Arboricultural Notices," I think it may not be unacceptable to your readers to send you a few particulars regarding a forest district, the only one of the kind now remaining of those impenetrable woods, which, in former days, proved such an impassable barrier to the Romans under Agricola; but which, I regret to say, have suffered so much, during these late years, from the axe, that in a very short period they will probably only form matter for history. The district I allude to comprises the Head of Strathspey, in Badenoch, and that part of Deeside known as Braemar Forest. About three weeks ago, I determined to visit this district; and, having accompanied a friend up Athol to his shooting lodge, after remaining a few days there, visiting the noble larches at Dunkeld and Blair, and the Pass of Killiecrankie, and being charmed with the romantic scenery of Strathtay, we crossed over through Gaick Forest to Pitmain, in Strathspey, by Glentromie. Here nothing can equal the solemn still grandeur of the scenery, with the majestic red deer stalking solitarily through the glens. We at last approached the Spey at the Ford of Pitmain. The Spey is a very dark-coloured rapid river; and we made our henchman, or guide, go first, he being mounted on a taller pony than He was presently afloat; and my friend got so much alarmed, that we drew up; and it was then only we became aware of the force of the water, as the ponies could not stand; ours. and we were compelled, with difficulty, to return, and ride six miles higher up to the Bridge of Spey. This part of Badenoch is bleak, with little wood, and that stunted birch. Lower down, you enter the woods of Invereishie and Rothiemurchus, which are of the Pinus sylvéstris, or native pine. Nothing can exceed their beauty, measuring, in some instance, 17 ft. and 18 ft. in circumference, and the wood equal in cleanness to foreign. Great part of the Rothiemurchus woods have been cut, and floated down the Spey. As much as 14,000l. for wood, we were told, had been realised in a single year, while the ground rental of the estate rose not much above 1000l. We visited Kinrara, the wild and favourite residence of the celebrated Jane Duchess of Gordon; also the Doune of Rothiemurchus, the shooting box of the Duke of Bedford. From Avicenara we struck over, by Rothiemurchus, Cairngorm, and Ben Mac-dhui (the highest land in Britain by the last survey), to the head of the Dee; and we launched (in the middle of July) into a field of snow on the top of the pass, taking a copious draught of iced water flowing from "Those rills which nurse the source of infant Dee." The scenery here is as wild as any part of the Alps I had ever seen, and put me much in mind of les Aiguilles in the Valley of Chamouni. We had, within two days, seen the sources of three of the finest rivers in Scotland; viz. the Tay, the Spey, and the Dee, and all rising within a circuit of twenty miles. We then descended the deer forest of Braemar, the upper part of which is, in a manner, destitute of vegetation; rocks rising in the most precipitous manner, and all primitive granite, porphyry, and gneiss. Shortly after passing one of Lord Caermarthen's keepers' lodges (who has taken the forest, and pays nearly 3000l. of rent), we entered the woods, which are entirely of Pinus sylvéstris, and some finer than those of Rothiemurchus. One must come here to see the Scotch pine in its native grandeur. The average dimensions were as much as our guide and myself (both 6 ft. high) could span with arms joined. The clean vermilion colour of the bark, and darkness of the foliage, showed that this spot was their native soil. It was with regret that we saw, in many parts, the sawpit in full operation. The lower part of the trunk only is taken, and the rest left to rot on the ground, the Dee not being deep enough to float down wood. The soil this forest grows upon is a light gravel: wherever the moss exists is without wood. It is about twenty miles long, and stocked wholly with from 7000 to 8000 red deer, no sheep or cattle being allowed to pasture in it. It is admirably adapted for a deer forest: the upper part, being entirely bare of wood, forms the summer resort, and the lower the winter one. At the bottom of the forest is the Lynn of Dee, a boiling caldron of 100 yards or so in diameter; the Dee being confined within precipitous rocks, not above a step from bank to bank. Shortly after this you approach Mar Lodge, beautifully situated in a recess formed by the river, with a wooded hill above; and, shortly after this, the picturesque alpine village of Braemar, one side of which belongs to Lord Fife, with the Fife Arms inn; and the other, and more modern, to the Invercaulds, who have built a beautiful inn close to the spot where the unfortunate Earl of Mar hoisted his standard in 1715. The remains of Malcolm Canmore's shooting lodge is also shown here. You are now fairly in Deeside; and, as I have already diverged from my subject, of its beauties I shall not descant; merely remarking that I observed every where that the planted Scotch pine is, in every instance, a totally different tree from the plant which springs indigenously; and that a sight of Braemar Forest is well worth a visit of any arboriculturist, even from the more southern parts of the island. Muirdrum, Dec. 27. 1836. A very characteristic sketch of a group of Scotch pines was made for our Arboretum Britannicum by W. Nesfield, Esq., landscape-gardener, of which fig. 29. is an engraving, reduced to the scale of 1 in. to 50 ft. The highest of these trees is 75 ft.; and the diameter of the trunk, at 6 ft. from the ground, is 6 ft. ART. VIII. On the Transplanting or Removal of Evergreen Shrubs. By R. GLENDINNING. THE removal of evergreen shrubs is a very important consideration in ornamental gardening; and much, therefore, is due to your intelligent correspondent Mr. Rutger, in directing the attention of your readers to it, so as to resolve the proceeding into something other than a mere speculative operation. The following hints are applied to the transplanting of large plants, as small ones may be removed at almost any season with nearly equal success. In the prosecution of some alterations, which have involved the planting of numerous large evergreens, and in considerable variety, immediate effect being desired, opportunities presented themselves of comparing extensively the result of the various seasons, and marking the effect of each. I may premise that an opinion, and not an erroneous one, is com monly entertained, that, should evergreen shrubs be removed during the months of November, December, January, and February, the effect will be nearly the same. Notwithstanding this, I am still, however, persuaded that there is a certain time better than any other for performing every operation, especially of gardening, the data for the fixing of which are found in the immutable laws of vegetable economy. The various scientific operations of the skilful horticulturist are guided by these axioms; and a knowledge of them, he is aware, is indispensable to the success of his performances. Hence, such an acquaintance with the physiology of plants points out to him the seasons of grafting and budding, the removal of shrubs, and every other operation which he has to perform; and enables him, also, to calculate with certainty on his success. Having said thus much by the way of preliminary remark, I come now to what more immediately forms the subject of this paper; viz. the proper season at which evergreen shrubs should be transplanted, so as to sustain the least injury from their removal. The period, then, of the greatest action in the economy these shrubs is surely not the desirable time; neither can that be the most fitting season when they are in a comparatively torpid state. In the former instance, the plants will suffer from the natural season of excitement, which the more or less unavoidable mutilation of the roots will render them unfit to sustain; whereas, in the latter case, the fibrous roots will perish from the extended period during which the plants will be compelled to remain in a torpid condition. Well, then, a time between the two extremes (say during the month of April) may be suggested; but this would be a fatal suggestion, as at this season all vegetable life is, as it were, charged, like a voltaic battery, waiting the influence of a genial sun to discharge its accumulated provisions into leaves, flowers, and fruit. The branches must sympathise with the roots, which, at the three periods cited, ought not to be disquieted. It will be perceptible, from the preceding observations, that there is yet another season at which the proceedings of the skilful and cautious may be rendered successful; and the guide for discovering this period is a very simple one. The time I propose shall be alike free from the extremes of either present or immediate prospective excitement, and shall yet not be the season of maximum transpiration. It is a well-known and understood fact, as well as a matter of common practice, that the successful propagation of a great number of evergreen shrubs is prosperously effected at the time the young shoots have attained a firmness of texture, easily distinguished by the practical operator. We may instance the laurel, camellia, &c., which will have arrived at this condition about |