1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



67 



of the former, put in to break up and add to the 

 appearance of the bed. 



Another has on the background the words 

 "Reign Victoria," which needs no explanation. 

 Below is the Prince's Feather, with his motto on l 

 each side, " Ich Uien." The space on the sides is 

 cut up so as to allow filling with different shades 

 of carpet material. Standing beside this is the 

 designer of those beds. Here you will notice 

 also, but too far off in the background to be very 

 distinctly seen, a bed of Cactus. To the right is 

 a border of flowering plants, and on the left rises 

 a bank about ten feet. Above the lower level, on 

 the upper margin of it, is a line of ornamental 

 plants of which only one is seen. This rise runs 

 over two hundred feet. Those plants have a very 

 fine effect as seen from below. 



Now, I am not a lover of much of this carpet 

 bedding, but would be far from condemning it 

 altogether ; for, when you have many beds to fill, 

 it helps to diversify their appearance greatly, and 

 gives variety to them, which in all cases ought to 

 be a main point of consideration. I always aim 

 at having every bed distinct from the others. I 

 do not mean that I can do so without using the 

 same plants sometimes twice ; for where you have 

 forty beds to fill this is no easy matter to do, and 

 select them so that they will show well during the 

 whole summer. Our climate is so short as to not 

 admit of changes once or twice during the season. 

 Those beds are considered difficult to make, and 

 when well done surprise many that such work 

 can be done with plants in such uniformity. 

 For my part I consider it a much easier task than 

 to make one with flowering plants. The sole aim 

 of the planter seems to be to cover up the soil, the 

 effect never thought of. But this is the all- 

 important point. Yet some good ideas may some- 

 times be gathered from carpet beds. Uniform- 

 ity and order can be carried so far as to give 

 a stiff appearance ; but I think all who make 

 them should have some aim in view before they 

 proceed to plant. 



In carpet bedding any one who can draw on pa- 

 per can just as easily put a design on a bed with his 

 compass and foot rule ; but it must be borne in 

 mind that this design will not do to be made on 

 paper without having the dimensions of the bed, 

 and drawing to a scale, so that when you lay 

 out the bed there be no cramping for room, 

 or an over-amount of it. And when your lines 

 are drawn there is little difficulty of following them 

 with your plants. Another thing is, if they should 

 not be just in conformity to the eye, the first trim- 



ming will mostly remedy the defects, if not too bad. 

 In carrying out designs I never use a plant I can- 

 not trim. Such as Alternantheras require only 

 side trimming ; cutting much on the top of such 

 plants removes the color, and mars the effect of 

 the plant. This new one, Aurea nana, can hardly 

 be over-estimated for both its golden color and 

 neat compact habit of growth. No one should be 

 without it, as it far surpasses the old one in every 

 respect. 



There are many plants recommended for this 

 kind of work that I never have been able to use 

 to any purpose, owing principally to their rough 

 untrainable habits. Such are always to be avoided. 

 If you really wish to show the purport of your de- 

 sign, the limited number of plants fit to be used 

 for this purpose properly are so few that it would 

 be my principal objection to this kind of work. So 

 1 say, let us have a little of every thing that can be 

 produced with plants. Never condemn any sys- 

 tem, though overdone as this certainly is. Give 

 us as much variation in beds or borders as you 

 possibly can. Nature has many subjects that can 

 be used in various ways, but, like every thing else, 

 the mode of presentation has much to do with 

 what may be produced by it. 



Siipt. Gov't Grounds, Ottawa, Can. 



[We quite agree with Mr. Robertson that the 

 crusade against carpet bedding is as extravagant 

 as the abuse of this method of gardening. There 

 is really no more reason why flowers or plants 

 should not be made to represent a carpet, than 

 that a carpet should have flowers worked thereon. 

 The answer might be that true taste requires use 

 as the basis of ornamentation. We are first to 

 get the useful and then make it ornamental. The 

 carpet is useful, and then we ornament it; we can- 

 not so use a flower bed. But it is the lawn and 

 the surroundings that are to be ornamented, and 

 if the carpet bed, by its contrast to the lawn, add 

 to the lawn's attractions, as it undoubtedly often 

 does, it is a legitimate portion of true art in gar- 

 dening. Even the imitation of letters, words and 

 armorial bearings, pleasant fantasies, undoubtedly 

 do give pleasure to thousands, and there must be 

 something natural and rational beneath a prac- 

 tice which so many human beings love to see. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Tall Late-flowering Peonies. — With 

 Paeonies, as with Tulips, we have a taller and later 

 blooming race, having flowers of the most lovely 



