THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



121 



for a shilling you ought to make sure of it 

 at any nursery in the three kingdoms. But 

 do not limit your outlay to a shilling ; get 

 enough to propagate from ftiirly, that you 

 may see the proper growth of the plant 

 during the season, and thereby judge here- 

 after how to manage it for the best. It 

 will grow in the dampest border as well as 

 in a dry one, and next spring every stool 

 will throw up a whole colony of white 

 shoots in March, when it may be parted 

 into pieces of one ciown each, and com- 

 mitted to the line it is to occupy. A poor 

 man in want of a fine contrast to gera- 

 niums and petunias should keep this in mind, 

 as the best silvery-leaved plant we have. 

 The same process must be followed with 

 the variegated arabis. Suppose you get in 

 a dozen potted plants that will bear di- 

 viding. Divide and plant out in sandy soil, 

 though it scarcely matters what soil, so 

 that it be not a wet clay. At the end of 

 the season take them up, and pot them in 

 very poor, gritty stuff, and just keep them 

 alive, in a cool house or in your window, 

 by moderate watering at long intervals. It 

 is nearly hardy, but will not be safe out of 

 doors if the winter is severe and wet. As 

 soon as it starts well in spring, divide into 

 as many crowns as it will make, and dibble 

 them into five-inch pots, half filled with 

 drainage, and the remainder quite to the 

 rim with good compost, chiefly leaf-mould 

 and silver-sand, and under bell-glasses or 

 in a Waltonian case, and every one will 

 root. If you are rich in it, as I was this 

 spring, having got up my stock last year, 

 simply tear the plants up and insert at 

 regular distances, in April, about four inches 

 apart, and they will meet by the time the 

 rest of the ribbon is planted. As for the 

 perilla and orach, they may be sown where 

 tliey are to remain, during April or on 

 the first of May ; but it is better to sow in 

 pans, and give the plants at least one shift 

 into store pots, to get them well furnished 

 with fibrous roots. 



I am propagating now for next year 

 the golden mint, a plant at present rather 

 scarce, as I have never once met with it in 

 all my travels. I picked it up at Messrs. 

 Henderson's last spring, and propagated it 

 ratlier too hard to see its full beauty in 

 such a sunless season as the last. I 

 potted all up for the winter, and then 

 through carelessness lost the whole lot, and 

 had to recover it again by striking a few 

 sprouted tops on plants that were dead at 

 ' the root. Those are now in a front line 

 on another border, and are most beautiful. 

 The hot sun of May brought them to their 

 proper tint of bright gold, and I can see 

 that this is a much more constant plant than 



the variegated mint, which is apt to run 

 back to its original green in rich soil. In 

 other I'espects it is a companion plant to that 

 mint, the same style of growth, the same 

 form of leaf variegation, but instead of 

 white this is a rich deep yellow over the 

 greater part of the leaf surface. In seeking 

 after this you may have thrust upon you 

 the common orange mint of cottage gar- 

 dens, with an averment that " it is all the 

 same." Take my word that it is not all 

 the same, the true golden mint is to the 

 other common weedy thing as " Hyperion 

 to a satyr." 



Inquiries come in about Spergulas and 

 Saginas and other probable and possible 

 turfing plants. The inquiries are often 

 accompanied with specimens, but the true 

 Spergula pilifera has never once been so 

 sent, nor has Spergula saginoides more 

 than once. I have just been to the nursery 

 of the Messrs. Carter — or at least one of 

 their nurseries, for I know not how many 

 they have to feed their order books, only 

 that on visiting their place at Perry Hill, 

 Sydenham, I was informed by Mr. Summers 

 who has taken the management there, that 

 only a portion of Messrs. Carter's bedding 

 plants and Spergula turfs were grown 

 there— and if you had any doubts as to 

 whether Spergula will be generally grown 

 or not, the reply will be found in the 

 enormous breadth of ground devoted to it, 

 and the business sagacity of Messrs. Carter 

 in securing the services of Mr. Summers as 

 Spergula nurse. I see plainly enough 

 that pilifera will be superseded by sagi- 

 noides. Pilifera is not only as good as I 

 have described it but better. My own piece 

 is now exquisite in its close felt of elastic 

 verdure, dense as piled velvet. But sagi- 

 noides grows twice as fast, and is not so 

 particular about soil, though preferring it 

 sandy ; whereas pilifera does best on stiff 

 loams and clays. There will be no need 

 soon for seed, except where very large lawns 

 are to be laid down with it, for tm-f may be 

 had to cut up and plant on the old plan of 

 making grass plots by inoculation, and 

 there is enough turf at Perry Hill to sper- 

 gularize all the lawns in the county of 

 Middlesex, and Messrs. Carter have for 

 manager the man who has made it his 

 hobby and knows more about it than any- 

 body else. I can speak well now of Sagina 

 procumbens, for I have lawn pieces of all 

 the three. The Sagina held its green all 

 the winter, and is now spreading laterally 

 at a rapid rate. 



All the bedding geraniums described 

 last year as desirable for planting out this 

 season are to be had in abundance from 

 Perry Hill. Space is too precious this 



