Jane 25, 1868. I 



jodbnaIj op hortioultubb and cottage gabdeneb. 



457 



and your own judgment and taato will guide you in the worki 

 and create something that will not cast a disagreeable contrast 

 on the beautiful, frost-like, airy ghosts of Bummer's leayes 

 insido the ease. — £. G. Bexford. 



THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



EvTiBYONE fond of flowers admires this graceful and pleasing 

 little harbinger of summer. Despite the rage for exotic plants, 

 the Lily of the Valley remains a favourite, and many thou- 

 sand spikes of its flowers are disposed of in Covent Garden 

 Market ; indeed, the flowers of no other British plant, probably, 

 are in greater demand. 



In several parts of the -woods here, the Lily of the Valley 

 grows very freely, and the places where it succeeds best seem 

 to be little better than beds of very fine sand. Some of these 

 spots are overshadowed by Oak trees, which afford protection 

 from the sun during the heat of summer, and generally there 

 grows amongst the plants such a close covering of Pteris aqui- 

 lina, that it appears when in full leaf sufficient to choke, if not 

 to entirely kill them. I have had this impression, but when 

 visiting in the following May the places where the Lily of the 

 Valley was growing, I found it again in full force. Its leaves 

 soon die down when exposed to the heat of summer, and I have 

 never seen it in a wild state so strong as it is when grown in 

 shady places in gardens, especially when not disturbed for 

 years. 



It is generally very impatient of removal, and often some 

 years will elapse before it acquires in a new position the same 

 degree of strength which it exhibits when grown in good sound 

 soil in a shady situation. I have often seen it doing well in 

 beds at the back of a high wall ; the north side answers best, as 

 the plant does not seem to enjoy full exposure to the sun's rays. 

 It might be asked. Why not at once imitate its native habitat 

 during the summer mouths ? I do not perceive the propriety 

 of doing BO, except to a limited extent near some fernery or 

 rockery adjoining pleasure grounds. — G. Dawson, Chilworth, 

 Eonisey. 



VIOLA CORNUTA, AND ITS FAILURE IN 

 DRY SEASONS. 



Most of our ornamental plants are from climates which are 

 warmer and more sunny than our own, and where the weather 

 or locality is cold and sunless the result which they afford 

 cannot be satisfactory ; but we also cultivate a class of plants 

 from moister climates, and where rain instead of sunshine 

 prevails they flourish. Thus, whatever be the character of the 

 weather in England, we can always enjoy something, and the 

 most adverse season never passes away without its proving 

 favourable to certain plants ; and it that which is successful 

 be only recently introduced, we are apt in our enthusiasm 

 to give it a higher degree of importance than it deserves, and 

 the reverse if the contrary should be the case. The more 

 popular the plant, too, the greater the outcry when it fails. 



Now I expect to hear complaints against a plant which has 

 been highly lauded during the last two years, and especially if 

 the summer should be dry and hot. Viola cornuta was in 

 everyone's mouth as a plant of the first merit, and there was 

 some controversy as to who had first introduced it as a bedding 

 plant. Without giving any opinion on this point, I antici- 

 pate that after a dry summer it will be ejected from most 

 places where water is scarce, and that it will be exclaimed 

 against more than it ought to be. Without wishing to dis- 

 parage this plant, I have always maintained that it is better 

 suited to a moist season or situation than to a dry one, and as 

 daring the past two years there has been no lack of rain in the 

 growing summer months, it has prospered much better than it 

 may do in 1808. I anticipate its total failure this year in 

 places where its planting-out was left until the usual bedding- 

 ont time arrived ; for, like the Cerastium, it ought to be planted 

 early in spring, or, which is better, in the autumn. Mine 

 were all planted at that time, and were in full bloom when the 

 bedding Pelargoniums and other plants were turned out ; but 

 even with the advantage of being established six months or 

 more, dry weather begins to have an effect upon it, and I 

 anticipate a short season for this plant, though during the 

 previous two years it continued longer in bloom. 



Now, we have no reason to find fault with this. No plant is 

 so constituted as to prosper alike in all seasons, and we must 

 regulate our planting by what we know of our soils, and by 

 what we can guess of the coming season. On the average of 



seasons it will be found that this plant will bo in better con- 

 dition when the rainfall is abundant than where scanty, and , 

 the north of England and Scotland would seem to be its home. 

 Let us not discard it altogether, for although it will not endure 

 for successive weeks the bright hot sunshine which makes the 

 Pelargonium flourish, it has its time and place. — J. ItoiiSON. 



SCARLET FLOWERS. 



Among all the colours that blooms assume, none are less 

 associated with fragrance than scarlet. We cannot at present 

 recollect a bright scarlet blossom that ia sweet-scented — yet no 

 other colour among flowers is more admired and sought after. 

 Scarlet prevails among Balsamina, Euphorbia, Pelargonium, 

 Poppy, Salvia, Bouvardia, and Verbena, yet none of the scarlets 

 are of sweet perfumes. Some of the light-coloured Balsams 

 and Verbenas are sweet-scented, but none of the scarlets are. 

 The common Sage, with blue blooms, is odoriferous both in 

 flower and foliage ; but the scarlet Salvias are devoid of smell. 

 None of the sweet-scented-leaved Pelargoniums have scarlet 

 blooms, and none of the scarlet bloomers have sweet scent of 

 leaves nor of blooms. Some of the white-margined Poppies 

 have pleasant odours ; but the British scarlets are not sweet- 

 scented. The British white-blooming Hawthorn is of the 

 most delightful fragrance ; the scarlet-flowering has no smell. 

 Some of the Honeysuckles are sweetly perfumed, but the 

 Scarlet Trumpet is scentless. 



All the Beans with light blossoms have pleasant odours, bnt 

 not the Scarlet Kunner. The liose gives fragrance to all its 

 colours, but the Gloire de Eosomene, which approaches nearest 

 to scarlet, is as scentless as the Yellow Harrison. The florists* 

 varieties of Tulip have a gentle odour, but the scarlet has as 

 little perfume as the yellow. Many of the flowering shrubs 

 have very fragrant blossoms ; but the scarlet Cydonia has no 

 smell. Carnations and Gilliflowers have some blooms approach- 

 ing to scarlet — they are fragrant. 



There are plants that bear scarlet blooms or scarlet fruits, 

 suitable for every department of ornamental gardening, and 

 every department should be adorned with scarlet, or a near 

 representation thereof, for no decorations are complete without 

 it. In glass houses there are Bouvardias, Cupheas, Euphorbias, 

 Alonsoa, Pelargonium, Gilliflower, Leschenaultia, Manettia, 

 Salvias, with scarlet blooms, and Poinsettia with scarlet bracts, 

 and Ardisia with scarlet berries. For out-door flower beds, 

 Canuas, Balsams, Carnations, Gilliflowers, Cacalia, LobeUa 

 cardinalis. Lychnis, Bouvardias, Pelargoniums, Cupheas, Sal- 

 vias, Gladiolus, Tulips, Verbenas, Zinnias, &c. 



For Climbers, Scarlet Trumpet Honeysuckle, Manettia, 

 Cypress vine. Scarlet Eunner Bean, &c. Amongst trees, Cercis 

 canadensis, gives a representation in blooms in early spring, 

 and Scarlet Oak and Eed Maple, with leaves in autumn. 

 Among Shrubs, Sorbus and deciduous Euonjmns, and Eed 

 Snowberry, with fruits all fall and partly through the winter. 

 Cydonia, with blooms in early spring, and Tartarian Honey- 

 suckle, Sweet Briars, &c., with fruits through the autumn. In 

 those different departments the eight can be feasted upon 

 scarlet all the year round ; and the scent can feast upon the 

 fragrance of very many other kinds of plants. 



Many of our enterprising florists and seedsmen have given 

 a fresh impulse to the love of floriculture, with their finely 

 illustrated catalogrjes, within the past few years. They would 

 even be more intelligible if they had abbreviations of the colours 

 of all species and varieties, and then the purchase! s could 

 select, sow, and plant more knowingly, to adorn their ) arterres 

 with all colours, and especially dazzling scarlet. — Walteb 

 Elder [American Gardener's Jlonthhj). 



A Quick Growth. — The new early Peas, Eingleader, sown 

 on the 12th of February, were last week harvested — fully ripe, 

 at Messrs. Sutton's Farm, London Eoad, Beading. 



WORK FOR THE "WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The ground is now in good order for the reception of autumn 

 and winter crops, and no delay should occur in planting out a 

 quantity of the most forward Brussels Sprouts, Savoys, and 

 Broccoli. Those who have their fiist Peas cleared off the ground 

 will be so far fortunate, but there are not many places where 

 there is ground enough to enable the gardener to have only one 

 ' crop on the ground at once. Broccoli, large breadths o£ the 



