256 THE GARDENER. [June 



and pulmonary complaints. It is not to be confounded with the 

 Hyssop of Scripture, which is quite a different plant (the Caper). 

 Hyssop prefers a light and somewhat dry soil. It may be propagated 

 by seed sown in ]\Iarch, by division of the plant in spring, or by 

 cuttings like winter Savory, to which it is allied, and otherwise treated 

 in the same way. 



Chamomile. — A well-known and popular medicinal herb ; a native 

 of Britain. The flowers only are used, generally infused like tea. 

 The single-flowered variety is the best, being the most powerful. It 

 is propagated by division of the plant in spring. It requires a moder- 

 ately dry soil, and the pieces should be planted 8 or 10 inches asunder, 

 and watered. It will soon cover the ground, and the flowers should 

 be picked off as they open, and dried in the shade, and stored away in 

 drawers. J. Simpson. 



WORTLEY. 



HORTICULTURAIi BREAKERS. 



I THINK it was the younger Stephenson who was taught by nature her- 

 self the practical axiom, never to contend directly with nature, but to 

 speak her fair and stroke her canny wi' the hair. In constructing one 

 of his railways on the Welsh or Lancashire coast, he made his em- 

 bankment too near the full force of the breakers, and had the morti- 

 fication of seeing it repeatedly washed away, when, if it had been 

 constructed a little more inland, the force would have been expended 

 on an inclined plane of sand. A beach of soft sand will remain un- 

 changed for centuries, while a great rock, like Hoy or Heligoland, 

 is fast crumbling away. There are many more of nature's breakers 

 which are quite as irresistible as those of the ocean, and it is just as 

 hopeless to contend with them ; but meet them half-way, present them 

 with the principle of the inclined plane, and they exhaust themselves, 

 or do a service even. All nature's forces are powerful to build or to 

 destroy, and the more minute and quiet their action the greater seems 

 the effect produced. Consider the result produced in one season by 

 the growth of grass alone ; it far exceeds the operation of the greatest 

 of the earth's volcanoes. The gardener has got entirely to deal with 

 nature's minute forces, and he finds it always better to guide than to con- 

 tend with them. For instance, one of nature's most powerful forces is 

 the growth of vegetation, as we have just said : by allowing the branches 

 of the fruit-tree to extend, we allow the rush of vital force to exhaust 

 itself, breaker fashion, on the sand, and our aim is attained with more 

 benefit to the cultivator and to the tree. Determined cutting is like 



