The Country Gaitlcmaiis Magazine 



262 



lata, fl. pleno; Sedum farinosum, Vicia 

 argentea, Viola striata, V. Canadensis, &c 



In connexion with the cemetery walks, 

 others are continued throughout the thickly- 

 wooded banks of the Water of Leith, and 

 under the fine old trees, with which they are 

 thickly shaded, ferns and other native 

 plants peculiar to such situations, as well as 

 yews, hollies, and other suitable evergreens, 

 are now being largely introduced ; and were 

 we to suggest any further improvements, the 

 first would be the erection of a substantial 

 retaining wall along the water edge, planted 

 on the cemetery side with a yew hedge to 

 conceal the impurities of the stream. Naming 

 at least one specimen of each plant in the 

 grounds with sufficiently conspicuous, but not 

 obtrusive labels, would also be an improvement, 

 and the plants which form the badges of the 

 Highland clans might be more frequently 

 planted on the graves, as is often done in 

 the British American colonies, and others 

 where clansmen rest far from the homes of 

 their fathers. Thus, on the grave of a 

 Buchanan might be planted a birch, an oak 

 on that of a Cameron, a holly on a Drum- 

 mond, and a Scotch fir for a M'Gregor; 

 while the dwarf growing badge plants might 

 be used to cover the whole surface ; as a bed 

 of Sweet gale for a Campbell, one of whortle- 

 berry for a Grant, the cross-leaved heath for 

 a Macdonald, the common heather for a 

 Macdonell, and the crowberry for a M'Lean. 



It is no part of our present purpose to take 

 notice of the sepulchral monuments which 

 adorn the cemetery, and point out the spots 

 where lie its most illustrious dead; but no 

 visitors who take any interest in either natural 

 history or literature will pass without contem- 

 plating a somewhat central and rather unpre- 

 tending group which mark the graves of Dr 

 Robert Kaye Greville, Dr John Fleming, 

 Edward Forbes (naturalist), John Goodsir 

 (anatomist), Dr John Knapp, Wm. Edmon- 

 stoune Ayton, and John Wilson, Blackwood's 

 " Christopher North." 



We cannot conclude these remarks without 

 mentioning that, to the plant taste of the 

 superintendent, INIr James Rae, all interested 

 are indebted for the successful cemetery 

 gardening at the Dean. Mr Rae is a 

 thoroughly practical gardener, and in his 

 early career he acquired an intimate know- 

 ledge of his business, as well as of plants and 

 plant culture, in several leading gardens and 

 nurseries, when it was more the practice than 

 now for young gardeners to study botany, and 

 to make themselves acquainted with native 

 as well as with hardy exotic plants. His 

 success in his present sphere of usefulness 

 affords a good argument in favour of em- 

 ploying plant-loving gardeners as cemetery 

 superintendents, in place of others who, 

 as is too often the case, are devoid alike 

 both of gardening experience and plant 

 knowledge. 



OLD PLANTS THAT ARE NOW UNDESERVEDLY NEGLECTED. 



THAT proverbial fickleness of fashion, 

 which too often prefers novelty to 

 intrinsic merit, has now almost driven from 

 our flower-borders and greenhouses many 

 plants which were held in high esteem by our 

 forefathers, and which would equally delight 

 the eyes of their descendants could they only 

 be led to believe that they are new. In proof 

 of this we could name one who held a first 

 rank place among practical gardeners, and 

 who thought that he had got a foliage 



bedding-plant treasure, among some others 

 which he had carefully reared from 

 Nepaul seeds, until it was brought to 

 his recollection that it was only the red- 

 leaved Orache, which in the days of his 

 apprenticeship had a place annually allotted 

 to it in the kitchen garden. And a young 

 nurseryman, who had picked up a stray plant 

 of the Blitum capitatum — the seed of which had 

 probably lain long in a garden rubbish-heap — 

 became convinced that his fortune was to be 



