JOURNAL OF HORTICULXUBE AND COTTAGE QARDENEB. 



[ Fobraary 8, 1877. 



vegetables, such as Cauliflowers, Horn Carrots, Turnips, ite., 

 should be sown in small quantities here until those ia the 

 main quarters come in. — A Kitchen Gabdenbb. 



TOOTHED CLUB MOSS— Lycopodium denticulatum. 

 Our Club Mosses are a race of plants found in spongy boggy 

 places in upland and mountainous districts ; many find their 

 ■way to ns from other countries and have long graced our 

 stoves, greenhouses, and exhibition tables. The Lyoopodiums 

 are intermediate in appearance between Mosses and Ferns, 

 and are furnished with spreading or creeping stems. We are 

 told that the powder contained in the capsules of Lycopodiam 



Fig. 15. — Lyoopodiura helveticam, 



clavatum is inflammable and has been used in fireworks. 

 L. Selago is used in dyeing to fix eolourg, aud is employed by 

 some an an emetic and cathartic, but requires care in using. 

 LintiffiUB says the Swedes use a decoction of it to destroy lice 

 nn swine and other animals. Lycopodiuma are neat evergrotn 

 Moss-like plants. Many of them whtn once established are as 

 troublesome as weeds, especially in moist warm places. They 

 may be cultivated in WarJiau cases, pots, baskets, aquariums, 

 and rockwork. They are increased by division and cuttings 

 in the spring. Though uioisture-Ioving plants they enjoy 

 thorough drainage, and well supplying with water and pure 

 air. A mixture of sandy loam aud well-decomposed vegetable 

 matter, with pieces of sandstone aud charcoal dust, will meet 

 their requirements. Lycopodium helveticum,of which we add 

 a woodcut, is a native of Switzerland, and rtquires the same 

 treatmont as L. denticulatum. 



L. denticulatum has during late years become one of the most 

 popular of decorative plants, aud is grown aud sold for this 



purpose by many thousands of dozens annually. For forming 

 fresh green fringes in almost any temperature, and a close yet 

 elegant ground-covering in conservatories and halls, it has no 

 superior. It is a most accommodating plant, luxuriating in the 

 high temperature of the stove and the drier cooler air of the 

 greenhouse ; while it endures better than most plants the 

 draughty and semi-dark corridors of the mansion. For shaded 

 rockwork under glass it is indispensable, and, aa has been 

 lately stated by Mr. Luckhurst, it will grow well in shaded 

 places in the open air, receiving little, if any, injury from the 

 frosts of ordinary winters. It is, in fact, a hardy sub-alpine 

 plant, a native of Switzerland, and from whence it was intro- 

 duced about a century ago. It is, however, most commonly 

 grown as a cool stove plant, and when it is required to be 

 increased rapidly, and plants are desired to be established 

 quickly, a genial temperature must he afforded. When plants 

 are prepared for decorative purposes, pots of a convenient size 

 are filled with sandy soil, and a few sprays are placed in the 

 centre of each pot, pressing them down with a little soil placed 

 over the lower portions of the stems, leaving the surface of 

 the soil rounded and rather high in the centre. Water can 

 then bo sprinkled freely over the plants, which they rejoice 

 in ; but they cannot endure stagnant soil, hence the advantage 

 of " high potting." In all places where much plant-decoration 

 is required, this familiar, pleasing, and tractable Lycopod 

 should be largely grown. — N. 



NETHERBT HALL, 



THB SEAT OF SIR I'KKDERICK ULRIC GRAHAM, Baht. 



By the old highway between the two capitals there are few, 

 if any, spots which have won so many panegyrics from tra- 

 vellers aa that part of the vale of the Esk lying between Lang- 

 holm and Longtown, To the traveller by rail, however, the 

 greater part of this scenery is lost as the branch from Lang- 

 holm diverges to the east of the vale ; but to those to whom 

 time is not a special consideration the balance of beauty Ilea 

 decidedly on the side of the old coach road, a consideration 

 which induced me when paying a visit lately to my friend Mr. 

 Ken, gardenf r at Netherby, to sacrifice time for pleasure ; and 

 I had certainly no cause to regard the time as mis-spent, 

 ntither do I consider that the rambling notes which I took of 

 the scenery will be uninteresting to the readers of the Journal. 



Langholm is a prosperous little town, well worthy of notice 

 not only for its enterprising manufacturers and world-renowned 

 tweeds, but also for the beauty of its surroundings, for it 

 nestles at the feet of a circle of bold wood-fringed hills which 

 environ it ; and being situated at the point where the vales of 

 the Esk, the Ewes, and the Wauchope meet, it forms a very 

 pretty picture indeed. On leaving the town proofs of its pro- 

 sperity are springing up on all sides in the form of chaste 

 villas aud spacious mansions. One in particular deserves 

 special notice from gardeners — Brooklyn Cottage, the residence 

 of Mr. Park, who, along with his brother (whose place I will 

 notice by-aud-by), after a successful career as florists in 

 America, are spending in independence the evening of life in 

 their native vale. 



A mile or bo below Langholm a substantial bridge bears the 

 road across the river, and the view from it is very picturesque, 

 with the town and its environs ia the background, and in 

 front the river foaming, chafing, aud dashing over its rocky 

 bed past an old distillery, the booming of whose condenser is 

 heard above the sound of the chafing waters. The road now 

 enters what is called the Dean Banks, and for two miles is 

 overarched by magnificent trees. The Larches here are said 

 to be the oldest in the south of Scotland, and judging from 

 the few that remiiin giant specimens they must have been, bat 

 most of them have of late years succumbed to the woodman's 

 axe. Many of the Spruces are a noble sight as their great 

 dark masses tower up against the deep blue sky. Did time 

 permit, an hour or two could be very profitably spent here 

 among the Ferns aud other plants which flourish in great 

 abundance. 



Proceeding for a mile or so through this spacious avenue 

 you pass Broomholm on the east side of the river. It occupies 

 a fine situation, but the mansion has been built in the olden 

 times when comfort and convenience were not sacrificed for 

 appoarauce. It has for upwards of two centuries been the 

 residence of the Maxwells, a branch of the powerful border 

 clan of that name, whose title to the Broomholm estates dates 

 back from that period. They were the founders of Langholm ; 

 that part of it on the east side of the Esk stands on their 



