JOUKNAL OP HORTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r May 9, 1867. 



of all that is worldly, and admonish us not to place our affec- 

 tions inordinately upon any pursuit or pleasure however lawful 

 and even elevating it may be in itself. I remember that the 

 poet Young in one of his satires (I have not the book by me to 

 rafer to), paints an amateur florist at a period when the passion 

 for Tulips was a sort of monomania, aud describes him as 

 standing and doting over his " Paul Uiack," a Iiiitch variety 

 which reached a fabulous price, and then exclaims — 



" O solid bliss ! which nothing can destroy, 

 Except — a cut, bird, snail, or idle boy ! " 



Had the poet lived in our day he might have added a third 

 line — 



" Or criuoliuo, the bane of florists* joy ! " 



There is another department of the garden which invites a 

 passing notice of crinoline, but in this instance it is doubtful 

 whether it is to be considered as friend or foe. Mr. Wood perhaps 

 would place it among the neutrals. I refer to that portion of the 

 lawn now generally set apart for the royal and almost universal 

 game of croquet. Crinoline in this instance, often most incon- 

 veniently, displaces the balls for the players on the one side, and 

 as conveniently for those of its own side. It cannot for one 

 moment be supposed that there is any conscious unfairness in 

 such movements of the balls, but it is sometimes extraordinary, 

 notwithstanding our entire confidence in the honesty of the 

 sex, how a ball which is a long distance from its hoop, aud in 

 a wi'ong direction, after having been covered by the crinoline 

 cup, is found by some magic or Ugcr dc jiipe in position, cer- 

 tainly reminding one of the inexplicable mysteries of the 

 thimble-rig! On one occasion, indeed, when I stood amazed 

 at the clever transposition of a ball, the ingenious artiste made 

 the avowal with ingenuous frankness and most bewitching smile, 

 " I do dearly love a little bit of cheating ! " but I relate this in 

 strictest confidence as a secret never to be divulged by the 

 reader. I draw no general conclusions frota the fact : I leave 

 the question in luediis, giving to criuohne the full benefit of 

 the doubt. 



And now, to bring this "momentous" subject to a conclusion, 

 let mo ask. How has crinoline ever come to be patronised ? 

 The chief art in female dress, one would suppose, would be to 

 improve or set-off the beauty and symmetry of the wearer, 

 but the reverse is the case in regard to crinoline. It may set- 

 off the silks of the mercer, or display the pattern of a shawl, 

 but assuredly it does not improve ■' the human form divine." 

 I suspect that the person who first introduced such a pre- 

 posterous fashion must have had some deformity to conceal, 

 and she must have possessed no little boldness or courage to 

 have ventured out of doors with such a skirt. Horace thought 

 that the man's nerves must have been bound with brass who 

 first ventured to navigate the ocean : there is no poetry in the 

 case of the female who first steered her course through the 

 streets of London encircled with crinoline ; she was literally 

 surrounded with hoops of metal of some kind or other. Query, 

 brass ? 



One might solve this inquiry better if the uiidt; dcrivatur of 

 crinoline were clear. Whence does it derive its name? It 

 may have been from the Latin crinalh, in which case we must 

 •conclude that the first petticoat of the kind was made of horse- 

 hair, or hair of some sort ; but there are two little Greek 

 words which come as near to the mark, and have also an 

 affinity with horticulture — viz., kiinon or crinoii, a Lily, and 

 linoii, Flax ; whence, possibly, cruio-liii, a flaxen Lily — a mam- 

 moth Lily truly ! , The admired .Japanese auratum, large as 

 t is, dwarfs into insignificance in the comparison. Unfortu- 

 nately, however, for this hypothesis, the Lily is inverted in the 

 petticoat, resembling rather a monster Campanula or HcU- 

 flower, and reminding one more of Big Ben of Westminster. 

 There is, indeed, another use of the word linon in the Greek : 

 it signifies a fisherman's net and an angler's line. Ah ! can it 

 be possible that crinoline was first adopted by an auglor, or 

 fisher of men, in order to render " the take " more destructive ? 

 I dare not further pursue this branch of the inquiry lest I my- 

 self get fishing in troubled waters ; so I leave the whole ques- 

 tion as among the doubtl'uls — in duhiis, as the schoolmen say. 



Let it not be supposed, however, that my quarrel is with 

 those who wear the crinoline ; it is with the article they wear ; 

 for what, indeed, would our gardens be without them ? As a 

 desolate wilderness, and our flowers would all 



"blush nnseen, 

 " And waste their sweetness on the desert air." 



They give life aud animation to the scene, and a well-selected 

 bouquet of fair ones will at any time eclipse the most exquisite 



of flowers, and cause their lustre to pale and disappear like 

 stars before the risen sun. I simply sign myself therefore — 



A.NTI-ClUNOLINE. 



BLUE-FLOWERED BEDDING PLANTS. 



It is a very common remark among flower gardeners, both 

 amateur and professional, that we have only one really good 

 blue-flowered bedding plant — namely. Lobelia erinus speciosa, 

 with its varieties. Now, to say the least of it, this assertion 

 is very unfair, as by implication it reflects rather seriously 

 upon the good name and character of more than one very re- 

 spectable blue flower. The Lobelia certainly is the most ser- 

 viceable, because the most manageable, of any blue-flowered 

 bedders which we as yet possess, aud for certain situations 

 could hardly be surpassed by any the most visionary could 

 imagine. In scroll or chain borders, associated with Cerastium 

 aud other low-growing plants, nothing can be better ; but I 

 have seen beds 8 or 10 feet in diameter massed with it 

 entirely, with a view to complete some complicated combina- 

 tion of colours which nobody but the desiguer himself could 

 detect ; and however well such beds may look from a bird's-eye 

 point of view, to ordinary earth-walking mortals hke myself 

 they appear decidedly weedy. 



Delphinium formosum, while admired by everybody, is but 

 little used as a bedder, though why this should be the case is 

 not very evident ; as regards colour, it is in no way inferior 

 to Salvia patens, while in form, habit, and storm-enduring 

 capabilities, it is beyond all doubt greatly its superior. For 

 mixing in large informal beds, as centres for such, or as a se- 

 cond back row in ribbon-borders, it is very eftective ; in fact, 

 by a moderate amount of pegging down it may be made avail- 

 able for nearly every situation in any design not absolutely 

 arabesque. The sole blot in its character is, that between the 

 first and second flowering there intervenes a period of sis 

 weeks or two months, according to the season ; therefore to 

 obtain a succession of flower it is necessary to plant doubly 

 thick, aud retard every alternate plant by cutting it back a 

 week or so before the time it would be in flower. This 

 naturally induces an earlier second growth, which will come 

 into bloom in good time to take the place of the plants not 

 subjected to the same treatment. 



I have thus grown this Delphinium with varied success for 

 the last three years, keeping the plants in reserve-beds over 

 winter, and transplanting them about the end of April, by 

 which time the flower-stems are well developed, and the opera- 

 tion serves the purpose of retarding them considerably, especi- 

 ally if a good part of the roots are cut ofl' in the process. 



I am now inclined to think that the same result might be 

 better effected by using only seedlings of the preceding year. 

 By raising them from two or more distinct sowings there is 

 little doubt that a succession of superb blue spikes might be 

 obtained from June to November, and I think it would be 

 interesting to many readers of The Jooenal of Hohticultuke 

 if some correspondent would show a little light on the subject. 



Another blue bedder, the merits of which I think are but 

 scantily appreciated, is the beautiful little Cape Aster (Agathaea 

 cailestis) ; its tidy habit, dark green foliage, and sky-blue star- 

 like flowers, all indicate it as a plant almost worthy of its 

 name — certainly of more patronage than it has yet received. — 



AVI.SHIRE GaEDENER. 



LAYERING VINES. 



Last year Mr. Thomson, writing on the coil system of plant- 

 ing Vines, spoke very strongly against Mr. Eivers's plan of 

 layering any part of the old stems, and after describing his 

 experience on this head, he said, " I prefer shaking out the 

 roots entirely, and not layering a morsel of the stem." On 

 page 28 of Mr. Thomson's book on " The Vine," I find him 

 defcribing a mode of successful planting, thus — "I then spread 

 out the roots, itc, laying three joints of the wood, as well as 

 the roots, in the soil, making an incision with the knife below 

 each bud to induce the emission of the roots." &c. 



There seems to be some contradiction here; and it so hap- 

 pens that I have, and I now fear somewhat unfortunately, 

 followed out the last directions of Mr. Thomson with a new 

 house I have just planted. If the first plan — viz., that of 

 ISliO, is the right one, I am in fear for the success of my Vines, 

 which I cannot well afford to lose. I felt doubtful about the 

 nicking process at the time, but thought I could not be wrong 



