140 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I August 21, 1873. 



be traces of the jaw-work of large larvic on Ehododendrons, 

 Laurels, and other evergreens. I cannot belieTe it to be that, 

 nor has observation shown that snails or slugs have to do 

 with it ; and as " J. 0. W." suggests, it is rather attributable 

 to a decay arising from some morbid condition of the leaves, 

 and hence portions of the leaves are torn away by the agency 

 of rain or wind. — J. E. S. C. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



People's Garden. — A few minutes' walk from Willesden 

 Junction a limitedliabihty company, which has on its dh-ectory 

 the names of Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Harcourt .Johnstone, Mr. 

 Solly, Mr. Baxter Langley, and several others connected with 

 the social and intellectual improvement of the masses, have 

 secured some fifty acres of ground, and laid them out after the 

 Btyle of the Crystal Palace park as ornamental grounds, and 

 with all appliances for the performance of athletic exercises. 

 The People's Garden is accessible by train from Broad Street 

 every quarter of an hour, from the Mansion House every half 

 hour, as also from Euston ; whOe the Brighton, South-Western, 

 and Great Western, having running powers into Kensington, 

 render the gardens within the reach of all dwellers on the 

 southern side of the river, and also the west of the metropolis. 

 The flower garden is arranged with borders cut in the grass, 

 and tastefully grown with flowers ; the lawns are laid-out for 

 croquet ; the exercise ground affords every opportunity for 

 aspirants for fame in aerial tumbling to become proficients 

 in the art ; the cricket ground is to be equal to any of those to 

 be found near London ; and the platform for dancing, built on 

 960 piles, is at present the largest in the world. Added to 

 these advantages, which an enterprising board have liberally 

 bestowed, is the natural advantage of a lofty situation, from 

 whence a commanding view is obtained of the counties of 

 Essex, Kent, and Surrey. With these materials at hand the 

 company hopes, by affording gardens and recreation grounds 

 for shareholders and members, to secure for them healthy and 

 rational amusement of an elevating character. A shareholder 

 is made on very easy terms, as the shares are £l-shares, and 

 the amount may be paid either in one sum or at the rate of 

 l". 9d. a-month. Shareholders have the privilege of intro- 

 ducing annual members at 5s. each, all of whom have to be 

 balloted for, and so stand a test of respectability. The result 

 of a three-years existence is that the garden is the daOy resort 

 of many thousands of persons from all parts of London, but 

 jnore particularly on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. On 

 Saturday afternoon last the gardens were the scene of a grand 

 horticultural show, at which cottagers, nurserymen, florists, 

 gentlemen's gardeners, and amateurs were invited to exhibit 

 specimens of flowers, fruit, and vegetables in competition for 

 prizes of the value of £40. The .Judges on the occasion were 

 Mr. Barron, of the Royal Horticultural Society; Mr. Dean, 

 and Mr. Richards, gardener to Baron Rothschild. The show 

 of different products was highly creditable to the exhibitors ; 

 and the fruit and vegetables, coming as they did in many 

 cases from the gardens of the cottager class in the neighbour- 

 hood of Willesden and Acton, were an indication of a healthy 

 taste for horticultural pursuits among the working populatioir. 

 The cultivation of such a taste is one of the objects of the 

 People's Garden Company, and they consequently awarded a 

 variety of prizes to the best exhibitors. The button-hole 

 flowers were remarkably successful, and formed very neat and 

 attractive collections. Fruit showed very well. There was 

 also a lovely show of exotics lent by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. The tent in which they were exhibited was well 

 filled by visitors all day, and no doubt it would have been 

 patronised much longer but for a gale of wind which sprang 

 up about half-past six o'clock and swept the marquee clean 

 from its bearings, burying flowers, fruit, vegetables, and visitors 

 instantaneously in its ruins. The visitors were not hurt, but 

 many valuable plants suffered great damage. The gale, how- 

 ever, answered one good purpose : it blew an impending storm 

 swiftly away, and left the many pleasure-seekers to dance in a 

 dry, though cool atmosphere, to the strains of the band of the 

 1st Middlesex Artillery, till nearly eleven o'clock, when the 

 special train left for Euston.— (S(a/!(/arfZ.) 



We have the pleasure to confirm the favourable reports 



of Lee's Prolific Black Ccrrant, which have appeai-ed in the 

 pages of some of our contemporaries. Last year we received 

 some ofthe plants from Mr. Lee, of Clevedon, Somerset, which 

 have this season borne a fair crop of fruit, and we were struck 

 by the tenderness of the flesh and the sweetness of the flavour, 



far excelling in both respects those of the old Black Naples, 

 which were growing alongside of them. We strongly recom- 

 mend this valuable addition to our small fruits to aU fruit- 

 growers. 



One of the grass gum trees of Australia, Xanthorecea 



AnsTR.\-Lis, is coming into flower for the first time in Europe, 

 in the succulent house at Kew. There is also a fine plant of 

 Agave Jacqciniana, removed to the Palm house for the sake 

 of space, which is now in full flower. — (Nature.) 



The sale is announced of the Collection or Agaves, 



Fourcroyas, and Beaucaeneas belonging to M. De Jonge van 

 Ellemeet, of Oostkapelle, near Middlebourg, in Holland, and 

 which is to take place about the middle of September next. 



BEDDING PLANTS IN THE LONDON PABKS. 



No. 1. 



Never have we seen a better display of bedding plants than 

 that which is now to be found in the London parks, and notably 

 in the Green and Hyde Parks ; there the beds are gorgeous 

 with flowers and redundant in leafage, where the object sought 

 is leaf-colouring, and the arrangement susceptible of little, if 

 any, improvement. There is necessarily much of dry detail 

 in describing bedding arrangements, and in carrying these out 

 there is a considerable amount of repetition, still it is thought 

 that a few notes on the bedding-out, as exempUfied in the 

 Loudon parks, may not be without its utility. 



We shall take the Houses of Parliament as our point of 

 depai'ture, and proceed from thence to the Marble Arch. In 

 Palace Yard, near the Victoria Tower, the beds are chiefly 

 filled with Castor-oil plants. Eucalyptus globulus, and Canuas 

 intermixed with Variegated Maize. There is also a fine bed of 

 Solanum macranthum. We now cross St. Margaret's Square 

 adjoining the Abbey by a path, on each side of which is an 

 oblong enclosure, laid out in oblong and circular beds, resplen- 

 dent in colour in a setting of the brightest of green. We have 

 before had to notice the beauty and softness of the turf, and 

 this year it is in as high condition as it was in the last ; there 

 is no brownness, no bare places, but all is smooth, regular, and 

 as nearly uniform in colour as turf can be. There are twelve 

 beds in each enclosure, of which only those at the corners are 

 circular, the rest oblong. All the circles in the northern half 

 are margined with Echereria secunda glauca, edged with 

 LobeUa pumila granditiora, forming a dwarf dense mass of 

 blue, and having aa inner line of Iresine Liudeui. The oblongs 

 at the sides and ends are margined with Golden Feather Pyre- 

 thrum, and edged with Gnaphalium lanatuin, forming an 

 excellent setting to the bright masses of Geraniums with 

 which the majority of them are planted. Two of the circles, 

 pau'ing with each other, are planted with Peach-blossom 

 Silver-variegated Geranium, intermixed with Verbena venosa ; 

 other two with Crystal Palace Gem, golden-leaved. In the 

 oblongs are fine masses of Geraniums Lord Palmerston, 

 Editor, Lord Derby, Mrs. Laing, Gaines's Dwarf Calceolaria, 

 and Jean d'Amour Heliotrope. A bed of Murillo Geranium, car- 

 mine, is also very fine. On the south side all the circles are mar- 

 gined with Echeveria secunda glauca, and edged with the pretty 

 prostrate Mesembryanthemum cordifolium vanegatum, wbOst 

 the oblongs have a margin of Blue Bonnet Lobelia, planted inter- 

 mediately witli the graceful white-striped DactyUs glomerata 

 variegata, inside of which is an edging of Iresine Herbstii. 

 Two of the circles at opposite ends are filled with Beauty of 

 Calderdale Bronze Geranium, and other two pahing with each 

 other with Queen of Queens, silver-leaved Geranium, inter- 

 mixed with Purple Queen Verbena, which far sui'passes Purple 

 King in colour. Among the other beds, those of Indian Yellow 

 Geranium, Orange Nosegay, Rubro-cinctum, and Fire King are 

 very good, the last-named especially so. Tom Thumb's Master 

 has run to leaf too much. 



In passing through St. James's Park, it may be remarked 

 that a number of Aucubas, Privets, and some Box, the Privets 

 'J or 10 feet high, have been successfully transplanted to the 

 south side of Stafl'ord House garden on the French system, by 

 raising them by levers ; and this having been effected with 

 good balls on the 12th of April, the bushes are now perfectly 

 established, only one or two of the Box trees showing any sign 

 of removal. The site, it may be added, was thoroughly pre- 

 pared by taking away all the old soil, and replacing it with 

 that thrown out from foundations. On an artificial island in 

 the Serpentine recently formed there is a similar example of 

 successful transplanting, and in this case the trees and shrubs 

 are of larger size. 



