THE FLOEAL WOKLU AND GAfiDEN aCIDE. 277 



colouring, in the splendid works accomplished at Sydenham, The 

 fact is, the old iSpeciosa is so good, that people are not in a mood to 

 try any other. Yet they may take to Blue King with perfect safety. 

 Paxtoniana is too well known to need a word of recommendation. 

 ^nowjiake, brought out this season by Messrs. Lee, is not good. 

 The growth is too wild and weedy, and the flowering not dense 

 enough. jSTevertheless, it is a pure white, and in some soils may be 

 effective. Messrs. Dobson and Son, of Isleworth, have a very 

 promising white, called Miss Murphy, which is likely to prove first- 

 rate. But 1 shall say no more about it till this time next year, for 

 it is impossible to give it a character, as a hedder, until it has had 

 one season's trial. Beauty of. Rochester, sent out by lUman, of 

 Strood, Kent, is a pretty thing; but probably it has disappointed 

 some who grew it, because of the smallness of its flowers. The 

 colour is a geuuine " heavenly blue," the habit rather wiry and 

 spreading, and it keeps on blooming, as fresh as at the first start, 

 until the very end of the season. I saw it several times in 1865, and 

 have grown much of it in 1866, and I can strongly recommend it, 

 though for close, sharp lines it is not so well adapted as Speciosa. 

 Amongst our own seedlings at Stoke Newington, we have a superb 

 cerulean blue, a clear silvery grey, and a pretty purple with white 

 spot. We destroy hundreds that appear to be worth naming, and 

 the three just mentioned are likely enough to share the fate of the 

 rest. But I intend to give these three a fair trial next year, both in 

 pots and beds. 



Petunias. — Purple Bcdder (B. S. Williams) is one of the best 

 ever raised for bedding purposes. The habit is tough and wiry 

 short and coaipact. The flowers are small, abundantly produced, 

 and a rich brilliant purple colour. No one can err in securing this 

 variety, or in propagating it largely. 



PentstemojSTs. — Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing selected from 

 a great mass of seedlings last year three superb varieties adapted 

 both for borders and large beds. They are all the same height, all com- 

 pact in habit, and all produce heavy masses of large finely-formed 

 flowers. It would be a quite new and grand feature in a garden to 

 appropriate three rows of a ribbon to these three pentstemons, or to 

 plant them separately in a set of three large beds. The names are 

 J^ohn Pester, pucy blue ; Poberi Parker, rich rose ; Shirley Hibberd, 

 rose-pink. 



Dahlias. — The new bedders in this class are all good. The most 

 distinct amongst them are Gem of Dwarfs (Dean), two feet high, 

 crimson, tipped white; Little Beauty (liawlings), two and a- half feet 

 high, crimson, with yellow base, distinct from all other dahlias, and 

 remarkably brilliant and eft'ective : Queen of Poses (E. Gr. Hender- 

 son), two and a-half feet, pure rose ; Scarlet Tom Thumb (E. Gr. 

 Henderson), fifteen inches high, bright scarlet. Tom Thumb and 

 Little Beauty are the best two of all the bedding dahlias. 



Calceolarias. — Mr. Watson has sent out some good calceo- 

 larias of late, but I have not grown any of them, and cannot report 

 upon their merits. The only novelty in this way that I can speak 

 of definitely is Bi7'd of Passage (B. S. Williams), which is of fine 



