JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 31, 1817. 



are uncommonly good when roasted. Hedgehogs may be useful 

 in a garden, but I have twice oanght them polishing ofi wounded 

 partridges under a bush. — G. 0. S. 



NEW CEOTONS. 

 Few ornamental-foliaged plants are more valuable for deco- 

 rative pnrpoEeB than Crotone. Their brilliant colours make 



them attractive at all seasons of the year, and their elegant 

 habits render them as appropriate for stove and dinner-table 

 decoration as they are effeetivo for exhibition purposes. The 

 dissimilarity in Crotous is very striking. The foliage of some 

 is bold, smooth, and commanding, while of others it is slender, 

 tortuous, and elegant. The leaves of some sorts are simple, 

 while those of others are lobed, and a few are interrupted, 

 the blade being undeveloped for a certain distance and then 



Fig. 55. — Choton earl of deeby. 



expanding, so that it appears like two leaves connected by 

 a string or slender filament, imparting to them a grotesque 

 appearance. Nature appears to play strange freaks with 

 Crotons, and there is not much fear that, however rapidly new 

 varieties are forthcoming, there will be any lack of distinctness, 

 as is the case with Tricolor Pelargoniums and a few other 

 genera of plants. As showing the distinct character of some 

 of the newer Crotons, and also in some measure their varied 

 colouration, the figures of two which we have frequently seen 

 exhibited, and which are being distributed this year from 

 (.'lielaea and HoUoway, are submitted with the descriptions of 

 them as given by their introducers. Both these Crotons may 

 be regarded as first-class decorative plants and well worthy of 

 notice. Both of them colour well when in quite a small state, 

 and they appear to be free and healthy growers. 

 Croton Earl of Derby (which is a fine companion plant to 



C. Disraeli), is described by Messrs. Veitoh as a "splendid 

 novelty, with leaves of the C. Disraeli form, very highly 

 coloured, and quite distinct from every other Croton of its 

 cla9s. It was received from A. H. C. Maoafee, Esq., of Sydney, 

 New South Wales. The stem during its earlier growth is of a 

 remarkably bright yellow ; the petioles, and midribs of the three- 

 lobed leaves springing from it are of the same rich colour, 

 which also spreads over the greater part of the lamina or blades, 

 the extremity of each lobe being green. As the plant increases 

 in age the colour deepens, and finally becomes suffused with 

 red. Thus the ensemble of the plant presents a centre of bright 

 yellow of almost golden hue, with the later growth of a little 

 lighter shade, and the older growth changing to red, relieved 

 by the cheerful green tint of the extremities of the leaves. The 

 habit of the plant is erect ; the foliage is of even growth, and 

 gives a symmetrical outline to the whole. It received a first- 



