August JM, 1863. ] 



JOUIUfAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDElvrEE. 



141 



WEEKLY CALENDAR- 



AUGUST 25-31,1863. 



Star Ttiiatle flowers. 

 Pouthernwood flowei-s. 

 Fleibane flowers. 

 GoUlen-rod flowers. 

 Chejpea Gardens founded, 1673. 

 13 Sunday after Tni>jTT, 

 Meadow SaftVon flowers. 



Moon 

 Rises 



m. h. 

 47 a 4 



22 5 



55 5 



20 6 



43 6 



7 7 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 27a 

 45 1 



Jloon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before 



Sun. 



m. 



Day »f 

 Year. 



n 



12 

 13 



o 



16 

 16 

 17 



1| 

 1 45 I 

 1 28 1 

 11 



53 

 6 35 



237 

 238 

 239 

 210 

 241 

 242 

 243 



From observations taken near London during the last thirtv-six years, the average day temperature of the week is 72.1°, anil it3 night 

 temperature 49.0". The greatcHt heat was W, on the -26th. 1859 ; and the lowest cold, 32°, oa the 29th, 1850. The greatest tall of rain 

 was 1.32 inch. 



JOTTINGS ABOUT SOME BEDBIN'G PL.4^*TS 



OF 1863. 



OBELIA Paxtoni sent out by Messrs. 

 Carter is one of the nicst effective 

 of the bedding novelties of the cur- 

 rent season. Its habit is so pros- 

 trate, the contrast of its light blue 

 and white so perfect, its 

 growth 60 free, and bloom 

 so profuse, that it is a great 

 acquisition. I was parti- 

 cularly struck with its ex- 

 cellence when contrasting it 

 with a seedling raised here 

 by a well-known nursery- 

 man, Drummond. to whom I 

 gave some of the plants I 

 had from London. He 

 thought his own good, but 

 he will destroy them that 

 his stock may not be mixed. 

 The Tagetes pumOa is a 

 very striking, spreading 

 plant, not exceeding 12 ins. 

 in height, and presents a 

 mass of richyeUow blo.ssoms 

 spangling its good foliage. 

 The spring being so di-y, and the summer warm, the 

 slugs have not attacked it, for they usually mercOessly 

 desti'oy its ally, the French Marigold. It is much benefited 

 by an occasional watering with liquid manure. 



The experience of all parties agrees as to the Ama- 

 ranthus melancholicus ruber. In favourable seasons, 

 and under proper management, it is a most valuable 

 addition to the eolourcd-foliaged plants. Nothing equals 

 it in brdliancy of colour when in a good light. Plants 

 if small when put in do not thrive, the cold wind .so 

 dries the leaves : they should be G inches high in pots 

 before transplanting into the borders. The winds and 

 cold of May and early June almost destroyed the first 

 lot. The growth of plants under circumstances appa- 

 rently the same is rather irregular. Some of mine are a 

 foot high, and nearly that acros.s, while others close to 

 them are at least one-third less. Those planted the first 

 have never done well. This plant also enjoys weak 

 liquid manure. Dm-ing July the improvement in the 

 growth and beauty was more marked. The Perilla, 

 though so much more hardy, is veiy dingy and coarse as 

 compared with the Amaranth. 



There is a half-shrubby plant of loose growth with 

 small silvery leaves (the name I forget), that I saw last 

 week at Messrs. Garraway's nursery, at Bristol, used as 

 an efiective background of a ribbon-border. It was 

 mingled with Perilla, which formed an excellent contrast 

 Ln colour and growth. This firm had planted rows of 

 Amaranth, none of which were prospering, the wind 

 having spoiled the leaves. 

 I do not know -what may be the future height or 

 No. 126— Vol. V., Ntw SESits. 



size of Oalandrinia umbellata. When 2 inches high it 

 throws up its flower-stidk not exceeding 3 inches, carry- 

 ing an lunbel of rich red-purple flowers, which appear if) 

 be permanent and suitable for small nosegays. The 

 foliage is so light and marked, that I expect it will formtt 

 nice edging of low growth. Is it a perennial and hardy I" 



For singularity of growth, and strictly a creeping jilairfc, 

 nothing cau exceed Arototis repens, wit'h its long silvery 

 branches that literally stick to the ground. If it has a 

 blossom that contrasts with its colour it is very suitable 

 for filling corners of beds. I should presume by its 

 growth that it will be found an excellent plant to haxig 

 down over rockwork, when it would form a close suo-- 

 stratum for flowers of a brilliant hue. It would contrast 

 well with the dark blue LobeUa. 



There is another plant that in the early part of the 

 day presents a blaze of liglit red blossoms — Mesenaits-y- 

 anthemum tricolor. Why called tricolor I do not know. 

 Many white-blooming plants came up with the red, nor 

 can I distinguish the one from the other by any dilferenee 

 of foliage. The period of blooming is but short, as it 

 seeds so freely, and the plant lies so close to tlie grounft 

 that these seeds cannot be cut off without more labour- 

 than it is worth. Its roots are so very fine that I pre- 

 sume its natural and most suitable site is on stones,, tO' 

 which its silky roots adhere, that they may be nourished 

 by the moisture always on rocks. 



For distant elTect an old-fashioned plant. Oenothera 

 acaulis, with its showy white blossoms a few inches from 

 the ground, is worthy of notice. 



I cannot conclude mj-comments on "these plants, selected 

 solely from the catalogues of Messrs. Carter and of 

 Messrs. Henderson & Son, without any previous know- 

 ledge of them, and solely by their descriptions, without 

 expressing my satisfaction at finding the descriptions of 

 the catalogues quite correct. To amateurs with sraaU 

 means and small gardens, who must judge and rear 

 plants for themselves, it strengthens their confidence- ia 

 their fellow men, and enables them for the future to trust 

 firms to whom they personally are unknown. I am sorry- 

 to say this is far from being the case in purchasing fruit 

 trees of some of the provincial gardeners, several of 

 whom are as likely to send you the wrong as the rigitt 

 sort. So much is this the ease, that I have long ag«<, 

 made it the rule with some firms never to buy a tree till I 

 have seen the fruit on it. This is not, however, I believe 

 the rule of the trade, who are so dependant on the care 

 and honesty of theii' foremen.— B. J. S. 



BOILEES. 

 The boiler question Ixas been alfly discussed of lat-e. 

 Tlie admirable papers of " G. A." have thrown consider- 

 able light on the matter, and will, doubtless, jtrore use- 

 ful to many. He has, with rather more courage than is 

 usually displayed on such occasions, put forth his own 

 views of what a boiler ought to be, and given a plan 

 which anybody may work out for his own profit. Judg- 

 ing fFom Tvhat I know of the action of heat on boilers, the 



No. 778.— Vol. XXX., Old SsaiEf. 



