of Rural Art and Taste. 



151 



but difficult as it is, we could not answer the 

 latter part of the inquiry at all, for we scarcely 

 know of one that we feel like placing on the 

 rejected list. In suggesting a list that we feel 

 confident that will prove satisfactory to the 

 majority, we will first call attention to the 

 true species, and afterward name a selection of 

 the finest hybrids and varieties. 



Among the former as very valuable, are 

 C. cirrhosa, greenish-white, blooming very 

 early; C. pafens, or, as it is better known, 

 azurea grandijlora, with bluish-lilac flowers ; 

 C. Standishii, light mauve, and very beauti- 

 ful ; C. ftorida, creamy -white, in autumn ; C. 

 Fortunii, creamy-white ; C Grahami, pale 

 green, very late ; C vioryia, a native of this 

 country, with curious little purplish bells ; C. 

 Virgihiaiia, another native of great value, 

 large clusters of small, white, fragrant flowers ; 

 C. vilalha, similar to the last, but a more 

 rampant grower ; C. lanuginosa, the cream of 

 the species, a native of Japan, and the parent 

 of many of our most famous hybrids, pale 

 lavender ; C. viticella, blue or pink bells, 

 very abundant ; C. flainmula,i\\e old fragrant, 

 white flowering species ; and C. erecta, a her- 

 baceous plant bearing numerous large heads 

 of snow white, sweet-scented flowers. 



In our list of standard varieties, we have 

 not included any of the very new kinds, many 

 of which, however, will prove grand acquisi- 

 tions. The following have all been thoroughly 

 tested in this country, and are unexceptionable 

 in every way : Sophia, an old variety with 

 very large lilac flowers; Joh}i Gojild Veitch, 

 lavender-blue, double, a superb bloom ; Sie- 

 boldii, creamy-white, with a mass of purple 

 petals in the center ; Glorie de St. Julian, 

 pure white, of immense size ; Imperatrice 

 Eugenie, similar to the above, fine ; Jeanne 

 d' Arc, another of the very large flowers, gray- 

 ish-white ; Hendersoiii, bluish-purple, bell- 

 shaped ; Viticella ve7iosa, reddish-purple, 

 elegantly veined ; Jachniamii, the queen of 

 the Clematis, deep voilet-purple ; Rcnanltii 

 cmrulca grandijiora, a French hybrid, violet- 

 blue with rosy-violet stripes; Rubro-violacea, 

 maroon-purple; Ccerulea odorata, reddish- 

 violet with pure white stamens, deliciously 



fragrant ; Hyhrida fulgens, mulberry, very 

 free bloomer; .'J ?ropw.rp7/refl, very abundant, 

 deep blue. 



We close our list with a brief enumeration 

 of the choicest novelties : Henryi, Lady Bo- 

 vill. Lady Caroline Nerill, Lady Londes- 

 borough, Laivsoniana, perhaps the largest 

 sized flower of the Clematis family, measuring 

 nine and a half inches in diameter. Lord 

 Londesborough, Lncie, Lucie Le?noi?ie, Mag- 

 nifica. Miss Bateman, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Jas. 

 Bateman, Otto Fraebel, Rttbella, Syntesiana, 

 The Queen, Thos. Moore, Viticella rubra 

 grandijiora, and Wm. Cripps. 



A Rairid Groiviuf/ Tree.~At the Knap 

 Hill Nursery, Surrey, England, is a specimen 

 tree of the Popolus Canade7isis, nova, a va- 

 riety of the Cottonwood, which in three years 

 has made the extraordinary growth of twenty 

 feet, forming well made trees. It is esteemed 

 by Messrs. Waterer as a better grower than 

 any other Poplar, and its habits free and 

 healthy. 



Arundo conspicua. — Thomas Moore, 

 the celebrated English florist, expresses sur- 

 prise that this is not more often met with in 

 gardens, "for not even the far-famed Pampas 

 Grrass [Gyneriuni argenteurn), grand and mas- 

 sive though it be, can at all compare with it 

 for elegance of character. It is moreover 

 quite as hardy as the Pampas, and flowers 

 annually, in great perfection, toward the end 

 of summer. It sends up its culms and 

 feathery panicles by the end of July or the 

 beginning of August, and its graceful beauty 

 can be enjoyed for three successive months. 

 It is the largest of the New Zealand grasses 

 and grows in dense tussocks, formed of a pro- 

 fusion of long curving leaves, from amongst 

 which rise the slender culms, six feet to eight 

 feet high, terminating in large drooping 

 panicles of silvery white flowers, the panicles 

 themselves being from one to two feet long. 

 A specimen shown to us, through a photograph, 

 was ten feet high and measured eight feet 

 across, having no less than forty-two of its 

 slender graceful culms, each bearing a charm- 

 ing panicle of silvery spikelets." 



