JOURNAL OF HORTICUIiTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



anclexistiu^'perennialh', althon^'h a very severe wiuter sometimes 

 cuts it down. Next comes Sparmamiia africaiia, one of the most 

 popular plants both iu the ^^ardens and in pots for house deco- 

 ration ; it is quite hardy at Nice, and seen everywhere. Then 

 there are Crataegus or Photinia glabra, which grows 10 or I'l feet 

 high iu large bushes, with beautiful foliage varying from shades 

 of red when young to deep green, anil large Laurustinus-like 

 flowers of blushing white ; Pittosporum sinense, Eibes rosieflora 

 and other varieties, Habrothamnus elegans, Ai-alia papyrifera, 

 Abutilon, .Tusticia, Salvia, a pretty white shnib, called there 

 Salvia oceana, not noticed as such iu the " Bon Jardinier ;" 

 Solanum marginatum, Ficus rubiginosa, Anthyllis Barba-Jovis, 

 Cyananthus, Pittosporum uudulatum, and Heliotropes flourish 

 perennially in the interesting garden of Dr. Bennett near 

 Mentone. The Authenils parthenoides, which is used so much 

 as a pot plant in Pai-is, grows freely everywhere, and I saw a 

 yellow variety at Nice which I thought very pretty. There is 

 one great favourite in the villas about Nice which I cannot 

 admire. It is Cineraria populifolia, wliich is something like a 

 gigantic Ragweed. 



I shall just notice one other little plant which strikes the 

 stranger's eye in the country about Toulon, the Everlasting, or 

 Helichrysum orientate. One sees large lields carefully cul- 

 tivated of this plant, which looks like a common Pink, only 

 that the leaves are whiter. This is cultivated largely to supply 

 the crowns that cover tiie graves in Pcre la Chase and other 

 French cemeteries as an emblem of lasting sorrow and im- 

 mortality. 



Many of these plants would only attract the notice of one 

 accustomed to look for pleasui-e in contemplating the beauties 

 of every variety of vegetable growth ; but the Orange gi'oves, 

 the Citrons, the Roses, the Camellias, the universal undergrowth 

 or cai-pet of Parma Violets, are what charm the many. In the 

 neighbourhood of Nice one of the most charming of Orange 

 groves is the Villa Benuond, where the fruit is sold fresh from 

 the tree, and where plants of 5 or G feet high can be bought for 

 ten francs, and carefully packed for eight francs per each pack- 

 age of four trees. I was there on the day that the Prince of 

 Wales ordered some of them, aud I note tliis for the benefit of 

 owners of orangeries in England. 



Perhaps the finest Orange grove is at the Jardin des Hes- 

 perides near Cannes, which is, I suppose, some ten or twelve 

 acriS iu extent, and all large Orange trees ; some 12 feet high, 

 and with round heads loaded at the time I saw them with ripe 

 Oranges as fully as any Apple tree is with Apples in our orchards. 

 It is crossed by broad well-kept gravel walks, dividing it into 

 square plots, and there are seats in which visitors cau sit aud 

 eat as many Oranges as they choose to buy for a few sous. As 

 the fruit was thus ripened the trees were bursting out iuto full 

 flower again. 



One of the most curious instances of the effect of minute 

 changes in climate is, that from Toulon to beyond Nice the 

 groves and gardens are full of Oranges and scarcely any Lemons ; 

 once Nice is passed there are gi-oves of Lemons covering the 

 hillsides and scarcely any Oranges. The Lemon, which has 

 one advantage over the Orange of blossoming nearly all the year 

 round, is a more delicate plant — just sufficiently so to feel, with 

 the invalid, some minute difference in the climate along the 

 northern Riviera around Mentone and San Remo. 



The profusion of Violets, Roses, and Camellias that are hawked 

 about the streets of Nice during March and April is very attrac- 

 tive, and the taste with which the bouquets are arranged very 

 remarkable. AU through the country the little children run 

 about offering little bouquets of Violets and wild flowers arranged 

 with a taste that you would not find in Covent Garden. The 

 white Camellias are not so beautiful as what we have in our 

 houses ; they are very white, but do not open out, and have the 

 appearance of a Fuchnia with the outer petals recurved, and the 

 centre petals standing upright aud close together. The Rose 

 in that season appeared to rae to be chiefly Safrano of the large 

 Roses ; but the masses of the Yellow and "White Bauksian that 

 hang down from the walks of every garden are perhaps the most 

 striking objects at that season. The Scarlet Geraniums, which 

 grow everywhere, are chiefly a Nosegay of a pinkish scarlet. 

 I have seen a hedge on the roadside at Beaulieu 6 feet high, and 

 masses hanging over the rocks on the seaside at the same place ; 

 but they grow everywhere, and are very beautiful. 



The Aloes seem to grow wild along the seashore, and their 

 immense flower-stalks, which often exceed 20 feet in length, 

 and some .5 inches in diameter, are very singular objects. The 

 variegated Aloe is much grown in the gardens along with the 

 Prickly Pear, which attains a great heightand girth of stem. The 

 rapidity of vegetation is very remarkable, and I believe that 

 this is mainly owing more to light than heat. Dr. Bennett in- 

 formed me that the light at Mentone was ascertained to be four 

 times greater than the light of Paris, and I believe that it is 

 to this that is omng, which astonishes one so much, that the 

 Lemon gi-ows thickly imder the thick forests of Olive trees, 

 aud corn ripens, Potatoes grow, and A'iolets blossom again 

 under these Lemons, so that the production of the same area of 



land is there multiplied by three as compared with our northern 

 acres. 



I think I have now noted the principal points that struck 

 me as a passing stranger as interesting on these shores. Wovdd 

 I exchange their untidy though luxuriant gardens with ours — 

 their blaziug sun with our chequered sky ? Certainly not : they 

 have all their enjoyment at once ; when .Tune comes everything 

 is burnt up. It is true that they have Roses in February and 

 March, but we have them from June to November, aud what 

 variety of scent and bloom adoru our gardens for two-thirds of 

 the year ! Nature does everything there, and they are content 

 with what she does ; but it is with gardening as with farming, 

 where difficulties have to be overcome success goes on until it is 

 more abundantly successful, and coy Nature is most lavish of 

 her favours to the most enterprising of her wooers. — C. W. H. 



AQUILEGIA GLANDULOSA HARDY. 

 lonSERVE, at page 498 of your .Journal, the remarks of " A.R." 

 respecting the beautiful Aquilegia glandulosa, in which a 

 caution is given against hoping to grow it in the open border iu 

 the south of England with success ; and that, speaking of Kent, 

 the seedlings dwindle away under every treatment. My own 

 experience of some years leads me to say that both on the 

 chalk formation and the clay soil of Surrey it succeeds very 

 beautifully. I sow the seed saved regularly, and generally 

 under glass, though it does well iu places iu the open border. 

 Some years since I found it growing in Forfarshire in splendid 

 masses. I have always been fortunate with it up to the pre- 

 sent season, having had splendid trusses of bloom on the older 

 pVmts, while those of later growth have almost all bloomed 

 fairly.— W. B. H. 



EErLYiNo to the letter of " A. R." iu the Journal of 20th 

 inat., we cannot account for his failure in the cultivation of 

 this plant. Last year we flowered it so near London as 

 Twiekenliam, and the plants are at this moment in capital 

 condition.— J.VMES Cakter, Dunnett, & BE.iLE. 



We regret to have to record the death of Mr. E. C. King- 

 ston, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew. He died on the 2'it\i 

 iust., aged twenty-five years. 



Died, June 14th, at the Moulsham Nurserie.?, Chelmsford, 

 Mr. .Joseph S.VLTM.\Hsn, in his 71ft year. 



MERITS OF STRAWBERRIES. 



In Doings of the Last Week (page 485), " E. F." is desirous 

 of knowing something of the hardiness of Dr. Hogg Straw- 

 berry. In complying with his wish I beg to state that our 

 plantation of this sort amounts to 444 plants, and out of that 

 number I find on examination twenty-two blanks; all the rest 

 of the plants are in the most perfect health, aud the blossom 

 they have shown indicates that the fruit wUl be very fine. This 

 is the second year of the plantation, aud I expect a good crop ; 

 but whether that will so weaken the plants that they will not 

 be able to withstand the winter well I am not prepared to 

 say. Our soil is light and sandy, resting on a sandy subsoil ; 

 but I endeavour before maldng a fresh plantation to have the 

 ground trenched from 2J to H feet deep, at the same time in- 

 troducing plenty of manure. I give an annual dressing of well- 

 decomposed manure in the autumn, but I do not leave it on 

 the surface, as practised by some, for I have it lightly forked- 

 in, bringing up as much soil as covers the manure. This gives 

 the plantation a more tidy appearance, and I am convinced 

 secures better results as regards the manure than leaving it ou 

 the surface. , . . 



I gathered my first lot of fruit out of doors ou the 17th mst. ; 

 the varieties were Black Prince, Marguerite, and Dr. Eoden's 

 Early Prolific ; the last-named I consider in every way a first- 

 class Strawberry, as it is very early, a good bearer, and of a 

 nice form. Marguerite is a grand Strawberry if picked care- 

 fully aud dished at once, but I find it does not bear carriage 

 weU, being easily damaged when fully ripe. As far as my 

 experience goes I do not consider it a good forcing variety. 



I can fully endorse the statement of "E. F." as to Straw- 

 berries last "season not showing blossom and this year bemg 

 loaded, for I had a number of Keens' Seedling growing ou 

 a border, scarcely any of them blossomed last year, and I 

 I came to the conclusion that they were barren ; accordingly I 



