Fobrnary 18, 1869. J 



JOURNAL OP HOTITICOLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



110 



COLLECTIONS OF PLANTS. 



S it by way of quaint eili- 

 torial satire, or fu il- 

 lustrate a fact in natu- 

 ral history, or nierelj' 

 for ornament, that we 

 .sometimes and now 

 sec at the beginning of 

 tlic first article in ■' our 

 Journal" a peacock, long of tail 

 and small of iiead, perched upon a 

 balustrade, and gazing dreamily 

 down upon a flower garden, while 

 by his side stands an ornate 

 pedestal which is made to do duty for that nearest and 

 dearest of all tlie letters, that ever-recuiTtng ■"I'.'" He may 

 be there for all these three purposes, but if for the first, the 

 quiet wickedness and dry humour which selected him from 

 amongst all other birds and beasts, and set him up there 

 as a wholesome scarecrow, rivals that of the dilatory 

 printer, who. when urged to get a vain author's first book 

 ushered into the world, pleaded as an excuse his inability 

 to proceed until he obtained a further supply of that same 

 egotistical letter from his typefounder. But I rather sup- 

 pose your artist must have been aware of the fact, that tho 

 ruling passion of this bird is his love of the beautiful, or 

 rather of the showy. He will stand for hours, and look at 

 a group of bright flower beds, or walk charmed and de- 

 ligiited among them. Nor could anybody blame him for 

 hia good taste if he would only be a little more careful of 

 his tail in turning the corners. Now, few of us would feel 

 gi'eatly flattered in being told that we have even one trait 

 in common with this vain bird, yet many have allowed this 

 love of show produced by multitudes of half-a-dozen difle- 

 rent plants to oust entirely their love of the cultivation of 

 flowers for their own sakes, their beauty in the aggregate 

 being a secondary consideration. 



The culture of flowers may be said to be pursued in three 

 different ways. 



The modern flower gardener looks upon flowers much in 

 the same way as the pauiter does upon his pigments — to 

 him they are little more than so many whites, yellows, 

 scarlets, purples. &c. Like convicts they have almost lost 

 tlieii- names, and have to answer, if not to a number, at least 

 to a colour. 



The florist, again, or, more properly, the flower- fancier, 

 worsliips idols of his owa making. In general ho cares 

 little about showy borders, combinations or contrasts of 

 colour, except in so far as they occur in individual flowers. 

 His (esthetic longings are never satisfied by contemplating 

 flowers as they came from the hand of Nature : he must 

 improve them, and the instances in which liis improvements 

 have been most wonderful are so numerous that they entitle 

 liim to all honour and respect. 



The third class of floricultui'ists are those whose chief 

 pleasm-e is in variety, who would, if they had the means, 

 grow everything, from a Baobab downwards ; and v.'ith 

 some slight modifications — a little less ambition and a 



No. 112.— Vol. XVI., New Sesies. 



little moi-e discrimination — the tenets of this class ani those 

 wliich I would advocate. Why should we not have far 

 more private Botanic gardens on a small scab- '.' It can- 

 not be from tho want of taste for them, for tastes and 

 amusements infinitely more stupid are springing up, and 

 thriving among us every day ; and could this pure source 

 of enjoyment not extend itself equally as well, or at the 

 expense of some of those ? Would a collection of Saxifrai^es, 

 Sedums, or Violas, native and exotic, not afford more satis- 

 faction than a similar gathering-up of postage stamps, seals, 

 or crests, or even of old books and paintings, which have 

 in many instances little else except old age aii4i,a;eoH(i ©f 

 antique prestige to recommend them ? ., ■'<i- 



Not at all interfering with our show flower gardens 

 which are now indispensable, if, say, half an acre were 

 devoted to this purpose, laid olf with some re"ard to 

 general efl'ect ; interspersed with small ti'ces and shrubs ; 

 a shady nook here and there for woodland plants and 

 Ferns : . a small pond for aquatics : a peat mound for 

 Heaths, Vacciniums, and the like ; and all gi'ouped more 

 or less systematically according to their orders, and cor- 

 rectly named — where could a refined and educated lady or 

 gentleman spend a more enjoyable hour'.' and hi sprin", 

 when most flower gardens are bare and unfledged, and in 

 summer if some untoward accident, such as a hurricane or 

 downpour '■ of sonorous hail or prone-descending raia," 

 should make the glowing beds drag their colours' in the 

 mud, the more permanent and substantial Character of tliis, 

 oiu- Botanic garden, could not fail to be appreciated, aid 

 even at all seasons it would prove a grand resource. ' ''"'' 



By arranging our native plants topngi-aphically, what 

 interesting groups might also be brought together. One. 

 for instance, and a large one it would be, might be made, to 

 consist entirely of littoral plants, such as Armeria, Stafice 

 Eryngium, Calystegia, Crithmum, and hosts of others 

 which, though mostly found near the sea, ai'e yet perfectly 

 cultivable inland. The alpine classes are just beginning 

 to become really popular. The name itself is very"vaoue' 

 for it is not easy to say what are and are not alpine plant.?' 

 but it is understood to include most of those wliicii. beint» 

 of low and compact growth, have, in the strun-r-ie fpr 

 existen-ce, been driven upwards towards the moun'taiu tops 

 by the more robust vegetation of the valleys, whence, no 

 doubt, has arisen the wide-spread notion "that rockeries 

 are essential to their well-being ; and rockeries hare ac- 

 cordingly been built by the score, ten times more ugly 

 than ever their occupants were beautiful, while tho truth is 

 that nine-tenths of them succeed better on an ordinai-y 

 border. 



Some may think this is all very well for botanists, but 

 that to others an assemblage of unknown plants with lone, 

 names— so very long some of them, and uncouth— cannot 

 be very captivating ; but the taste would gi-ow if cardeners 

 and others woidd try to foster it in their employers and 

 the public, and as for the want of botanical knowledo-"e 

 to begin with, a very little is all that is reqmred. The 

 nonsensical assertion that " A little learnino' is a daucerous 

 thing," was never more at fault than when applied^ here 

 Instead of being either dangerous or at all marring our 



No.10M.-VoL.XLI., Old Sek^s. 



