THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 45 



ment of an inspection of the various forms and colours whicli well- 

 kept borders invariably display. But the place loar excellence for 

 the display of a collection of grasses is that part of the garden 

 usually denominated "fernery," and where the tasteful cultivator 

 will always have other plants besides ferns, if for no other reason to 

 b"iug out the distinctive characters of these elegant plants by means 

 of agents which afford contrast and relief. Plants which have 

 ordinarily a perpendicular habit of growth, and which gratify the 

 eye by the elegantly traced or gracefully curved lines of their leafaf^e 

 invariably show to best effect when elevated to the level of the eve 

 and hence ferns and grasses require to be planted on banks and 

 knolls to exhibit their true characters and distinctive marks of 

 beauty. Besides this, the disposition of the soil in banks, knolls, 

 and irregular terraces, enables the cultivator the more perfectly to 

 provide for their various requirements, and in fact to imitate pretty 

 closely the condition in which the plants are usually found when 

 growing wild. In the formation of banks and rockeries, various 

 kinds of soils can be employed, and positions may be chosen to suit 

 plants that are of A^arious habits — the alpines for the summit, the 

 marsh plants for the base and for the margin of the lake or rivulet, 

 and those of more accommodating habit where they will look the 

 best, and assist by contrast to bring out the characters of other 

 plants with which they may be associated. It is only in a suitable 

 rustic scene, combining within a comparatively limited space the 

 various adjuncts of water, rock, peaty and sandy hillocks, and level 

 terraces of fat loam, that grasses, ferns, and alpines can be disposed 

 of to the best advantage ; and where such facilities exist, the culti- 

 vator will do well to introduce ornamental grasses, and give them at 

 least as much attention as is now bestowed on ferns and mis- 

 cellaneous rock plants. What a beautiful object is a clump of the 

 common Canary grass {Phalaris canariejisis). How superb in its 

 glaucous colour and exuberant leafage is the Grlaucous grass {Mymus 

 glaucescens). "What is there to surpass the grace of a patch of 

 quaking grass (Briza maxima, or B. gracilis), when throwing up its 

 elegant spikes among the stones in the front of a rockery ; and for 

 tropical-looking clumps to fill conspicuous positions among ferns, 

 caunas, and other graceful-habited plants, the varieties of maize 

 and holcus are unequalled for beauty and distinctness. — Gtkamen. 



Sea-weed Manube.— Sea-wrack, or, in plain terms, tlie common sea- weed tliat 

 lines the shore in many places, has been brought forward as a cotton-yieldino- sub- 

 stance, and in consequence has caused considerable discussion as to its merits or 

 demerits for such a purpose. This I must leave for others to determine ; but by it 

 I am reminded of the great use it is to the horticulturist when he can obtain it as a 

 mulchivg material. When I lived near the coast in Essex, I constantly lised it in 

 summer, between growing crops, coYcring the ground to the depth of three or four 

 inches ; the soil being light and early, it was of the greatest benefit, as it kept the 

 soil moist and cool, and tiio saline particles which it contained acted as a fertihzer. 

 Slugs are not fond of it, hence it is one of the best materiuls to lay between i-ows 

 of strawberries. It is slow to decay, therefore I should not lecommend digging too 

 much of it into a light soil, unless previously decomposed; but ou heavy land I 

 think it would act as a disintegrant of the soil. — H. H. 



