122 THE GARDENER. [March 



stove being a span-roofed structure — and the wall is 16 feet high, 

 with the glass rising 7 feet above that, so that it is a pretty lofty 

 structure. The Bougainvillea blooms gloriously here, as it gets the 

 full sun the whole day ; it was rather bare, however, in winter, when 

 it was pruned, so in 1879 I planted a few plants of the Euphorbia, and 

 allowed it to run up along with the Bougainvillea. The Euphorbia has 

 reached nearly the top, and is now a perfect mass of flower ; some of 

 the spikes will measure fully 3 feet in length ; the flowers, also, are 

 much larger than when grown in the pot, and brighter in colour, and 

 the foliage is both larger and richer-looking. Of course it is kept 

 growing on, only partly pruned back : some of the shoots are as thick 

 as a man's finger. The border is about 2 feet wide, and is bounded 

 by the pathway on the opposite side, and along and under this path 

 runs the feed-pipes from the boiler, so that both the plants have the 

 benefit of the heat from the pipes at their roots, which may partly 

 account for their vigour. J. G., W. 



THE BEDDING- OUT SYSTEM. 



In the 'Gardener' for February, under the above heading, occurs the follow- 

 ing passage from the pen of *' J. H., B.": — 



"Any species or varieties, however beautiful their flowers may be, if they 

 require support in the way of stakes, are reluctantly admitted into the ' hardy 

 brigade ; ' and, as a consequence, the greater number of the most beautiful, 

 showy, and useful of our hardy herbaceous plants are not admissible in the 

 ideal flower-garden of those who advocate the abandonment of the bedding- 

 out system. 



"Fancy the result of excluding from the herbaceous garden the stately 

 Delphiniums, the beautiful Asterlike-flowered Pyrethrums, several species of 

 the Lily family. Carnations, all the taller kinds of Phloxes, and a host of repre- 

 sentative members of other families that in this windy island of ours it is 

 absolutely necessary to stake, in some way or other, if we would see them in 

 all their beauty, and not as bedraggled, bespattered, betattered objects — 

 highly illustrative of their fitness for admission into the ragged brigade ! " 



If your correspondent had used the word "curtailment" instead of " aban- 

 donment " he would have been nearer the truth ; but that is a small matter. 

 What I want to draw attention to here, is his statement regarding the objec- 

 tions which, he says, the opponents of the bedding-out system have to the 

 *' beautiful species and varieties " of those hardy plants that need support in 

 the way of stakes. I have only to say, that if "J. H., B." will lay his finger 

 on any published statements of the advocates of the " hardy brigade " where 

 it is said, or anything to the same effect is said, that they object to "any species 

 or varieties, however beautiful their flowers may be," for the reasons assigned, 

 or where it has been proposed to exclude "Delphiniums, Pyrethrums, Lilies, 

 Carnations, Phloxes," &c., because they require support, I will pay the Editor 

 of this paper the sum of £5, to be used for any good horticultural pur- 

 pose he may think fit, on condition that "J. H., B." pays the same amount 

 if he fails to make good his statements ; and at the same time I hope he will 

 see fit to withdraw an assertion which I consider in the light of a slander. 



