112 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ Febrnnrj- 6, 1868. 



deficient or have been much behind our progenitors in the art 

 of raising new fruits, I think the Email additions of improved 

 varieties (as compared with flowers), that have been made to 

 the lists until very recently afford abundant testimony. 

 Happily we are commencing what I believe to be quite a new 

 era in fruit culture, having Mr. llivers's results with Teaches 

 and Nectarines ; Mr. lugiam's and Mr. Husyhe's with Peara, 

 and numerous others. That we owe much to such men as the 

 raiser of Lady Downe's, the Duchess of Buccleuch, and other 

 Grapes, the raisers of the Victoria Nectarine and the Victoria 

 Pear, we must all admit, but there is room for still greater 

 results. I think we have only to wait a short time ere we 

 have an equal abundance of improved fruits, as we have of im- 

 proved plants and flowers, of which there is none too many. 



It is hardly necessary to point out the small amount of 

 favour shown towards shrubs by the different floral and hoi'ti- 

 cultural societies. There is not a prize for hardy shrubs in 

 any of their schedules : hence the spirit of emulation has not 

 been excited in gardeners, and they have not begun to think of 

 improving the different kinds of shrubs. It rests with the 

 horticultural societies to create a taste for arboriculture, by 

 awakening the attention of those skilled in hybridisation to 

 the great improvements which may be effected in shrubs ; and 

 were the same favour accorded to shrubs as to plants, I thiak, 

 notwithstanding all that might be said against them on account 

 of the ragged and starry outline of their flowers, the taste for 

 them would spread, and that improvement would be the result. 



Prizes might be offered for the best collection of hardy 

 shrubs in flower, for those remarkable for their foliage, and for 

 those producing fruit, according to the time of year, they being 

 in pots of a certain size, for it is desirable that good cultivation 

 and not means should receive encouragement. The majority 

 of shrubs can be grown in 11 or 13-inch pots to a size sufficient 

 to show their characteristics quite as well as if seen in the 

 open ground. It is not necessary to bring a tree in order to 

 exhibit its fruit, hence it would answer quite as well to exhibit 

 a branch to show a tree's foliage, and a branch would serve 

 equally jwell where the beauty consists in the flowers. Prizes, 

 then, for shrubs in pots and for cut specimens are all that is 

 required to promote a taste for arboriculture, which I would 

 like to be more on a par with floriculture than it now is ; 

 indeed, I should like to see every owner or possessor of a 

 garden have a border or shrubbery of choice shrubs, which 

 would be a source of lasting pleasure. 



It is not my intention in this communication to treat of sub- 

 jects that attain the dimensions of a tree, but I shall confine 

 myself to shrubs which usually do not exceed from 10 to 

 15 feet in height, though they may in a favourable soil and 

 chmate attain much larger proportions. They are those that 

 should stand nearest the dwelling, and be of the dwarfer and 

 most beautiful kinds. They should be selected so as to accord 

 with the style of the building, and in planting particular at- 

 tention should be paid to the shades of green, and the effect 

 that the plants will produce when they are in flower. The 

 effect will be in a great measure produced by the contrast of 

 the shades of green, but if the appearance at the flowering 

 season be not also considered, the effect at that time will not 

 he good. Shrubs having a grey or bluish tint when behind or 

 amongst those of a yellow or bright green hue are thrown into 

 the distance, whilst those with light and small foliage are best 

 planted beyond those whose foliage is broad and fixed. 

 Those with variegated foliage should be employed to relieve 

 the sombre and uniform appearance of evergreens, and those 

 that flower or retain their berries in autumn and winter may 

 he used for a like purpose. Sombre-looking shrubs should lead 

 to the most beautiful or gay, and light coloured foliage should 

 appear among evergreens. The most beautiful shrubs should 

 have the most conspicuous and prominent positions, the shrub- 

 bery where it projects being planted with those most distinct 

 and briUiant. The design, though bold, ought to be rendered 

 free of all harshness and abruptness by a judicious arrange- 

 ment of the colours, blending easily one into another, and not 

 a shrub should be planted that will not add to the effect and 

 harmony of the whole. In planting in regular order and at 

 equal distances it is not desirable to form a shrubbery of recur- 

 ring varieties ; it more than one of a sort be planted, it would 

 tie well to group it in one place so as to give effect in various 

 parts by a mass of one colour whether consisting of foUage or 

 i)loom, ,**^y-^■. f^'- 



A shrubbery should not be too much crowded, as the beauty 

 of the plants cannot be displayed when they are planted so 

 closely together as to be drawn up into unnatural shapes. 



Attention should be paid to height, for it is destructive of 

 effect as well as to the plants' growth to place the tallest next 

 the wtilk or nearest the eye, and the dwarfest at the back or 

 behind them ; but much may be done towards giving an un- 

 dulating appearance by planting the tall shrubs together in 

 clumps, and the dwarf ones as well, proceeding grndiially from 

 the lowest to the highest shrubs, and again from the highest 

 to the lowest. It is desirable in planting to bear in mind that 

 effect does not depend on the rarity of the plants, but on a 

 selection of those succeeding each other in their blossoming 

 or the ripening of their various-coloured fruits, which latter 

 add materially to their beauty when the flowering is over. — 

 ti. Aeeey. 



{To be continued.) 



ROYAL HORTICULTURM. SOCIETY'S 

 EXAMINATIONS. 

 The result of the last examination of g.arden;rs for certifi- 

 cates, held at the Royal Hi Ituial Society, South Kensing- 

 ton, on the 17th of December, is as follows : — 



, Spinlis 



Wynne .... 



Hiirdesty 



. Steward 



lIcArdle .... 

 W. Burbi-idge 

 . Middleton . . 



Intilis 



Stormont . . 

 L. Keenan . . 

 J. Bull 



Chiswick 

 Students. 



J. H. Hart 



Roberts ... 

 Bradley . . . . 

 Williamson . 



Kew 



Kew 



Kew 



Kew 



Regent's Park . . 

 f Benham Pari, 

 I Newbury . . 

 Eiidge Castle .. 

 Court Yard. Elth; 

 Eattersea Park. 



I'cfjelable and Fruit 

 Culture. 



/•First Class 



ditto 



J Extra Second Class 



"l Second Class 



ditto 



vExtra Second Class 



. Tliird Class 



ditto 



. Extra Second Class 

 ditto 



. . . Second Class . 

 nm Extra Second Class 



Floriculiiur. 



First Class 



ditto 

 Second Class 



ditto 



ditto 

 First Class 

 Second Class 



Second Class 



First Class 



ditto 



ditto 



ditto 



Second Class 



G-\LVANISED AVIRE TRELLISES. 

 The trellis of Mr. Williams, of WooUand, that I wrote of 

 showed no sign of wearing, neither was there any sign of canker 

 or gum. If Peach and Nectarine trees are tied tightly to wires 

 or nails, they will throw out gum or canker. Two inches from 

 the wall is too far for a wire trellis. Peaches and Nectarines 

 do not like draughts of air behind them. I tie all my Peach 

 trees with bast instead of shreds, which harbour pests. The 

 plan is inexpensive, and neater than shreds. I use cast-iron 

 nails ; and instead of drawing them and leaving holes I break 

 them off. They are very cheap. — W. F. Eadclitfe. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first meeting for the present year was held at Bnrlinston House 

 on the IHb of .January, Sir John Lubbock, Bait., F.E.S., President of 

 the Society, being in the chair. 



Amongst the donations received since the last meeting were the 

 "Proceedings" of the Essex Institute of Natural History held at 

 Salem, United States ; the FerJinaudean Institution of the Tyrol ; the 

 Netherlands and Moscow Societies ; the Linnean Society of London, &c. 



The Rev. Douglas Timins exhibited three interesting varieties of 

 the Queen of Spaiu Fritillaiy Bnttertiy, Argynuis Lathoma, m two of 

 which the wings were of abnonual form and size, and in the tku-d the 

 black markings were greatly suffused ; also a specimen ot the ma^l- 

 iicent Charaxes Jasins reared in England. Mr. F. Smith exhibited 

 several specimens of a large species of Wasp belonging to the exotic 

 genus Polistes (and closely allied to P. biguttatus and versicolor, 

 natives of Brazil and the West Indies), of which five individuals had 

 been taken alive in the course of the summers ot ISbb and lbb7 at 

 Penzance, by Miss Carne, in the window of the same house. JUr. 

 Smith was unable to conjecture how such insects could have been m- 

 troduced into this country. , ■ , , ,i i- 



A note was read from Mr. Colville as to the geogi-aphical locahty ot 

 the two species of Papilio, Phorhanta and Epiphorbas, natives oJ 

 Mauritius and Madagascar. A note was also read from Captam 

 Lendy as to the introduction of the eggs of Bombyx Atlas from Chma, 

 with the view to their beiug employed in sill; culture. A letter trom 

 Herr Schiekenilauz was commnuicatedbyDr. Burmeister from Buenos 

 Ayres, containing a description of a new and remarkable genus of 

 Lamellicorn Beetles in Brazil, belonging to a group hitherto only 

 known as peculiar to the shores of the Mediterranean, its position 

 bein" between the genera Macrophylla and Pachy|ras. It had been 

 captured on the flowers of a legximiuous plant, and it was proposed to- 

 be named Burmeisteria mirabilis. , „ „ , , a , , , 



A report by the Key. G. Ilichter, Governor of the Central School at 



