May 8, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



377 



in this line, and perhaps a few pretenders. Sir Joseph Pax- 

 tons will not be wanting as demand creates supply. His art 

 should always be called in where the best permanent effects are 

 desired. He can tell to what size a tree will attain. Without 

 him a few years must bring into recpiisition the dreaded axe 

 and the knife. If it is almost as difficult to keep money as to 

 make it, so we may say it is more difficult to know what to 

 plant than to bring numerous specimens together. On the 

 subject of planting it is still well to remember Cicero's advice : 

 " When to build is the question, a man should reflect a great 

 while, and perhaps not build at all ; but when to plant, he 

 should not reflect, but plant immediately." Much time is fre- 

 quently wasted, and years lost, by not commencing with trees 

 the first year your property is in possession. 



We must take care that Europeans do not surpass us in 

 new introductions as they have in the skill with which they 

 cultivate what they call " American plants," including one of 

 our greatest and most neglected glories, the Ehododendron. 

 The Yew grows more rapidly here than in England. Suppose 

 our predecessors of two hundred years ago had planted Ger- 

 mantown simply with Cedars of Lebanon, Rhododendrons, and 

 Yews ! These alone would have made our district the admira- 

 tion of the world, and shall we, because they grow but slowly, 

 deprive our successors of the next two hundred years, of this 

 imposing beauty — this joy ? Loudon immortalises the planters 

 who introduced Cedars ou their domains. A Scotch Duke 

 planted his bleak hills with the Larch, and lived to see ships 

 launched from the timber, and now the Larch plantings are 

 yielding immense profits, from the demand for railroad ties. 

 The Marquis of Blandford, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, 

 did not hesitate to pay enormous prices for everything 

 beautiful, and he is remembered for this single act of 

 bounty to his country, and for this alone. Let us imitate 

 all this. 



The advance in horticulture is one of the great triumplis of 

 our age. This period of a few decades has seen the products 

 of the whole world, once unknown and despised, brought to 

 our doors and cultivated. Manufactures and the arts are 

 vastly indebted to the garden for their success. We have em- 

 ployed new grasses for useful purposes, and even subdued the 

 hard trees of the forest for paper. 



There can be no man here who is not cheered to-night by 

 the presence of the ladies. Woman's rights are sometimes 

 discussed, but there is at least one right she shall never be de- 

 prived of — the right to possess, to control, to work in, and to 

 thoroughly enjoy a garden. Tliey do not require, and do not 

 want defenders. In a new translation of Aristophanes, by an 

 English clergyman named Collins, I find the following free 

 lines from the women's chorus of a Greek play, which run so 

 trippingly, and are so appropriate, that with them I close these 

 hasty remarks, which have already detained you too long. 

 But the subject is really inexhaustible. 



Without the presence and approbation of the ladies, no 

 horticultural society, no garden would be attractive. They are 

 the best p,atrons of the advanced gardener. They are the best 

 of creation, our household gods, in fact the fairest flowers we 

 have, or can hope to see : — 



" They're always abusing the women 



As a terrible plasne to men ; 



They say we're the root of all evil, 



Ajid repeat it again and again. 



" Of war, and quarrels, and bloodshed. 

 All mischief too, be wliat it may ; 

 And pray, then, why do you marry us. 

 If we're all the plagues you say ? 

 " And why do yon take such care of us, 

 And keep us so safe at home, 

 And are never easy a moment 

 If ever we chance to roam ? 



" "When you out;ht to be thanking Heaven 

 That your Plague is out of the way. 

 You all keep fussing and frettini: — 

 ' "U'hei-e is my Plague to-day ? ' 

 *' If a Plague peeps out of the window, 

 lip go the eyes of the men ; 

 If she hides, they all keep staring 

 Until she looks out again." 



-{American Gardener's Monthly.) 



NOTES ON HAEDT FLOWERS. 



AquUffiia auren.—This is a new introduction from the Rocky 

 Mountains. It is closely related to A. canadensis, and in 

 habit of growth, foliage, and height resembles that species. 



The flowers are, however, pale straw-coloured ; and being a 

 free-flowering plant, it will form a very desirable contrast to 

 the blues and reds of other species and varieties. It appears 

 to be as easily cultivated as any of its congeners, and quite as 

 hardy. 



FritiUaria tuUpifoHa. — This is one of those hardy flowers 

 that may be described as peculiar and strildug rather thau 

 beautiful or ornamental ; but being a spring flower, it wiU be 

 of interest to amateurs and others who delight in variety of 

 character independently of showy colours. The flowers are 

 solitary, drooping, large, and like an inverted Tulip, very dark 

 or brown purple inside, and milky blue outside. It is very 

 hardy, and grows freely in common garden soil. Native of the 

 Caucasus. 



Campanula Medium calijcanthema. — -The Canterbury Bell, 

 though a favourite flower, and cultivated of old with more zest 

 than now, has not improved, nor had any very striking feature 

 added to it till within the last few years. The pale-rose 

 varieties are the most marked improvement in colour that 

 have been introduced for a generation or two, but we can now 

 speak of an alteration in the calyx in the present subject, 

 which adds a new interest and value to this old-fashioned 

 flower. In this new variety of Canterbury Bell, the calyx is 

 petal-like in colour, and to some extent it approaches the petal 

 in size also, being much enlarged. At present the calyx is the 

 same colour as the petal — blue or white, as the case may be ; 

 but a rose-coloured calyx and white petal, or a blue petal and 

 white calyx, or vice ccrsii, may be amongst the possibilities of 

 the not very distant future. 



Mi/osotis alpicola. — This is a diminutive but very pretty 

 Forget-me-not. It forms a neat tuft about 3 inches high, with 

 small, dark-green, hairy leaves and deep blue flowers, slightly 

 fragrant — the latter quaUty most noticeable at night. It is 

 best adapted to pot-culture among choice Alpines in a cold 

 frame. The protection of a frame in winter is of most import- 

 ance, because it is apt to perish of wet in the open ground. In 

 summer, when making its growth, it will bear abundance of 

 water, and must have it in plenty if free growth is to be en- 

 couraged, but the drainage should be very good. On well-con- 

 structed rockwork it will succeed better thau on level borders, 

 and may be left out in winter if care is taken to cover it in 

 prolonged wet weather with a cloche or bell glass. Gritty 

 loam is the most congenial soil for it. It is an old plant, but 

 rare. 



Pentstcmon hcterophijllum. — Beautiful and numerous as are 

 the species and varieties of this favourite genus, the present 

 species lately introduced to cultivation is scarcely equalled in 

 point of colour by any of the older and better known ones. It 

 grows about 18 inches high, in neat compact style. The leaves 

 are narrow-lanceolate, pale green, or glaucous. The flowers 

 are produced on long racemes, borne on slender stalks, and are 

 brilliant sky-blue. From seed, the plant varies somewhat in 

 colour in the depth of the blue, and occasionally in being 

 reddish purple. It is a native of Cilifornia. I cannot speak 

 from experience of its hardiness and cultivation, but it does 

 not appear to be more difficult than that of other Pentstemons. 

 In wet, cold locaUties, stock should be struck in autumn in 

 pots, to keep over winter under protection. 



Primula elatior magnifica.— T:h\s is one of the most beau- 

 tiful of the elatior tiibe of Primroses. It has the compact 

 tufted habit of all the breed. The flowers are large, about 

 the same size, and fringed in the way of a good type of 

 Chinese Primrose, bright gold in the centre, and shading 

 into clear primrose yellow on the margin. They are sup- 

 ported on stout stalks high above the foliage in great pro- 

 fusion, and are very fragrant. It is a beautiful plant for 

 spring bedding, being very showy and effective in masses at 

 a distance, and withal neat. For pot-culture, for the purpose 

 of greenhouse decoration early in spring, it is very desirable, 

 as it bears forcing very well, and lasts a considerable time ia 

 bloom. 



Saxifrarja pcltata. — One of the most extraordinary and dis- 

 tinct of its family. It produces large lobed leaves 8 inches 

 across, attached near the centre to strong stalks 18 inches or 

 2 feet long, and bearing striking resemblance to an umbrella, 

 in consequence of which it is popularly called Umbrella plant. 

 The flower stalks rise to the height of 2 feet, bearing cymes of 

 large, white, rose-tinted flowers. It forms strong fleshy creep- 

 ing stems, and is found growing on the margins of streams in 

 California, with the stems fre(iuently submerged. This at 

 once suggests its fitness for ornamenting the banks of streams 

 and lakes in this country, and that abundant moisture is an 



