HA R D WICKE ' S S CIE NCE - G O SSIP. 



American shrubby trefoil, has had a mass of flowers. 

 A French yellow Magnolia hybrid, planted two months, 

 suffered from the sharp May frosts, as did Chionan- 

 thus fragrans, but Chionanthus Virginica is in full 

 beautiful leaf, as is a bamboo, B. Simmonii : it is 

 gratifying to find it grows so near the chalk soil. 

 The Japanese ribbon-grass (Eulalia Japonica) is in a 

 fine state of development, as likewise is the reed-like 

 Eriantkus Ravenna. The Edelweiss, Gnaphalium 

 leontopodinm, in full flower, and eight inches high, 

 makes one long to be at one of its homes at the head 

 of the Valtellina. The popular Tritoma uvaria does 

 well, if well watered, but flowers later ; my plant last 

 year had 13 flower spikes. 



On walls, Pyrus Japonica, Bridgesia spicata, 

 Escallonia floribunda, Bignonia caprcolata, Cratirgus 

 pyracantlia, Jlfespilus microphylla, and two jasmines all 

 do well. But there are three notable plants, the 

 common and luxuriant Wistaria Sinensis, the beautiful 

 spreading Eccrcmocarpus scaler, for which latter I am 

 indebted to my friend Mr. C. P. Smith, of Clayton 

 Park, the skilled botanist, who has given me much 

 valuable information. The third plant is the ornamental 

 Aristolochia sipho. This singular plant, which flourishes 

 so beautifully on garden walls at Reims, sends forth 

 from the stem nodes at the same time, on bursting, 

 both flower and leaves. Mr. Piggott, of Tunbridge 

 Wells, the horticultural author and discoverer of 

 , Gr aphis Ruiziana, says A. sipho is named from its 

 flower " the Dutchman's pipe." Cohva scandens is 

 another useful climber. Last year I planted four fig- 

 trees, two white and two black. These trees as a 

 rule flourish at Rottingdean, Brighton, Lancing, and 

 elsewhere on this coast, bearing luscious fruit in hot 

 summers ; last year the slugs attacked the young 

 bark and I lost two. The beautiful foliaged plant 

 Ceanothus {gloire de Versailles) is a great ornament to 

 walls. My plant is now seven feet high, the stem-tops 

 are covered with clusters of young flowers, the colour 

 of which is exquisite. In the limited space of ground 

 it is singular to note the powerful effect of the sun. 

 Many of us have noted the force of "actinism" 

 as it is called, in developing the brilliant colours of 

 flowers in the high Alps, that is from 7500 to 9000 

 feet above the sea. But here the shrubs on the sides 

 nearest the sun have finer and better leaves, and my 

 three plants of Pi '11 us Austriaca, planted to mask a wall 

 running east and west, have a progressive development 

 each three inches higher than its western neighbour, 

 and all were planted the same time, and were then of 

 an uniform height. Again two Siberian crabs, Pyrus 

 prunifolia, planted for convenience' sake against a 

 wall facing west, the more southern plant has finer 

 leaves, and forty set fruits ; larger than those of its 

 neighbour, which, getting less sun, has only thirty- 

 five and much smaller. 



These conifers and shrubs are better developed 

 than in the surrounding garden, which I ascribe to 

 my practice of daily lateral syringing, particularly in 



the dry months of the year, so necessary in our diy 

 Brighton air ; not flooding the ground as generally 

 done, and leaving the foliage to take care of itself. 

 These are an amateur's crude notions. It is possible 

 another year I may jot down a few more notes, by 

 which time, climate, soil, and " General Frost" will 

 show how many I shall have to add to the list of " our 

 failures." 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



rllE Poet's Beasts, by Phil. Robinson (London 

 Chatto & Windus). This author has imported 

 a fresh interest into English literature. He has done 

 for the poets what Frank Buckland did for the 

 painters when he criticised their natural history at the 

 Royal Academy. " Phil Robinson " is a marvellously 

 wide and well read man, and it is surprising how 

 intimate he is with all our English poets. His 

 style is plain, incisive, and quaintly humorous — 

 occasionally delicately satirical. The volume before 

 us is a necessary work to the student of English 

 literature, and the general reader will peruse it with 

 keen enjoyment. 



Wanderings of Plants and Animals, by Victor 

 Helm, edited by J. S. Stallybrass (London : Swan 

 Sonnenschein & Co.). This is a well-edited transla- 

 tion of a very erudite and important work. The 

 naturalist will be deceived if he thinks it deals with 

 the geological and geographical distribution of plants 

 and animals. On the contrary, Professor Hehn 

 thinks the naturalist has had too much of his own 

 way, and the historian too little. So, in the lights of 

 philology and history, he endeavours to account for 

 the wanderings of the plants and animals which have 

 proved of the greatest advantage to mankind. Thus, 

 he holds (and probably with reason) that Europe 

 owes- more to Asia than most naturalists imagine. 

 Thus he takes the horse, vine, fig-tree, olive, ass, 

 bear, flax^ hemp, rose, domestic fowl, pigeon, &c, 

 &c, as the subjects of his chapters. He traces their 

 history, developments, modifications, in the hands of 

 man. Altogether this is a most useful book to the 

 historian as well as the naturalist. There is no 

 evident method in the arrangement of the subject- 

 matter. We jump from the horse to the vine, and 

 from asses and goats to stone architecture, from 

 cucurbitaceous plants to the domestic fowl, and from 

 hawking to the plum-tree. Moreover, nothing is 

 said about the vast number and variety of fossil 

 horses in America, nor even of its modern introduc- 

 tion either into that country or Australia, in both of 

 which it has become wild. The historical introduction 

 of the pig into New Zealand, and of the rabbit, hare, 

 sparrow, thistle, &c, into the Australian colonies, 

 might also have been included with advantage in 

 such splendid historical monographs as this valuable 

 book contains. 



