18B8.] CHEAP AND BEAUTIFUL LACINGS. . 233 



plant a line in single file from Hardwicke to London. It forms a capital edging 

 in itself, the foliage being so dwarf and dense, of a beautiful green ; and as a 

 flowering fringe to box, tile, or stone edgings, it is admirable. There are several 

 •varieties. We call ours Armeria grandiflora ; it is rather more robust and much 

 higher-coloured than the common Thrift. It flowers from the end of May till 

 the middle of July, and much later if the flowers are persistently removed as 

 soon as they fade. The grand display is in the middle of June, and we have 

 this season had several hundred yards of it, that one never tired looking at. Of 

 all cheap and beautiful edgings, I put this first. 



Amongst the next best, I would place Saxifraga hypnoides, one of the com- 

 monest and most beautiful of all the Saxifrages. With an equally beautiful and 

 more dense, spreading leafage, the flower-stem rises higher, and the flowers are 

 in shady places of the purest white. In more exposed positions, there is a yellow- 

 ish tinge in the white of this light and graceful flower. Strong plants of it in 

 single file will occupy nearly a foot hi width, and it forms a most effective and charm- 

 ing fringe to any of the positions I have indicated. The plant is perfectly hardy, 

 and may be increased almost as rapidly, though not quite in the same manner, 

 as the Thrift, nor must the subdivision be carried to the same extent. Every 

 cutting of the Saxifrage must be a perfect branch. 



Next we come to the Forget-me-Nots. What can exceed these in beauty ? 

 And then they have a second beauty laid over the first, in the deep hidden mean- 

 ing that clusters round the whole family like bees, and gathers the honey — love 

 — from every bending flower. There is, first, Myosotis sylvatica, white and blue, 

 and then there is the far lovelier M. dissitiflora, which lines the earth with a 

 band stolen from the deep blue sky. With care in culture, and skill to increase 

 and multiply such plants, no walk, verge, or shrubbery should go unlaced with 

 blue. However, these plants are not so well adapted for front lines, on gravel, 

 or to be used as substitutes for other edgings, as those previously adverted to. 



I will only name one more plant, and I have done, — the Golden Feather, or 

 Feverfew, hardy as our old friend the common Feverfew, beautiful as a golden 

 crown, regular and bright as a well-drilled regiment in new uniforms. This 

 plant will prove one of the most beautiful for lighting up walks, shrubberies, and 

 turf with a line of gold. It stands the winter without flinching, seeds freely, 

 comes quite true from seed, and any two joints will form a new and independent 

 gold feather, to plume its beauty wherever needed. 



I conclude by tying these four plants together, into a four-banded ribbon or 

 fringe, to be used anywhere and everywhere, and challenge your readers to pro- 

 duce a cheaper, more beautiful, and more permanent band for decorative pur- 

 poses : — First, the Thrift against the light-coloured gravel. Next the Saxifrage, 

 mixing its spraying flower-stems amid the glowing purple, and reaching back 

 amid the elegant Forget-me-Not. Finally, the Feverfew, throwing all the others 

 up and out against its field of the cloth of gold. 



