164 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Augnst 29, 1865. 



In the ornamental department the season has been the 

 tneans of restoring some plants to favour that have been going 

 ont for some years. Verbenas have, in general, done well, 

 ■and She same may be said of Petunias where they are grown. 

 Calceolarias have also been pretty good, and there is a good 

 prospect of their improving to the end of the season. On the 

 •other hand, Geianiiuns have become too gross to flower weM, 

 . and the lands that have done so were not the favourites last 

 year ; one of the gi'eatest delinquents in this respect has been 

 Stella, which, although good at the present time, was by no 

 means so early in blooming as some other kinds. This quali- 

 fication is, I believe, more due to the season than to the va- 

 riety^ Now that all kinds have attained so robust a growth, an 

 .abundance of bloom can hardly be looked for, irnless we have 

 very dry weather indeed for the remainder of the season. The 

 silvery-edged class have done well, but 1 think the golden ones 

 haro sometimes been better ; the Ivy-leaved varieties have 

 presented us with scarcely any bloom, and the strong gi'owers 

 of the flesh-coloured and white kinds have been little better 

 than a mass of foliage. The same maybe said of Tropa!olums, 

 •with the exception of T. elegans, which is by far the most dwarf 

 in its foliage of any of the traiUng class. 



Ajnong plants with remarkable foUage, Perilla is still pre- 

 eminent for its general service in its particular colour. Cen- 

 taurea candichssima has been pretty good, but I have been 

 disappointed in a plant I expected much of, Arctotis re- 

 pens. Though it is everj-thing that can be desired in a dwarf 

 plant in a young state, its leaves turn to a reddish brown 

 when they become old, and, consequentlj-, neutralise the 

 silvery hue which it has in its early growth. I should hkc to 

 know if this is the case elsewhere. Gazauia, Cineraria mari- 

 . tima. Variegated Alyssum, and others, may be pronounced to be 

 about as usual. Nierembergia gi'acilis is better than in most 

 seasons, and the same may be said of one or two Mesembry- 

 aitthemums, while Salvias, Ageratums, Chrj-sauthemums, and 

 other tall plants have become better and more robust than 

 usual, and the same may be said of Dahlias, and several 

 annuals. Perhaps one of the best of the latter as regards 

 iiabit, is Tagetes signata. 



The present season, I beUeve, presents us with as prominent 

 an example as in any former one. of the partial way in which 

 rain falls. In Kent we had a very dry Jmie, the first three 

 ■days and the last two in the month being the only ones on 

 which i-ain fell, the rest being very di-y and hot, parching the 

 groxmd, and forcing forward all vegetation that could withstand 

 it. Grass, however, even in the best pastures' succiunbed to 

 the heat. Showers followed in July, giving us 3J inches of 

 isaaiaHl in that month ; the atmosphere, however, continuing 

 warm things have grown rapidly, and rain falling still more 

 abundantly in August, we begin to wish for dry weather to 

 secure tlie ripening of fruits, &c., for up to the time at which 

 I write (the 23rd) 5 inches of rain have fallen. Now, it appears 

 that this abundant rainfall has not extended to Loudon, and 

 still less so to the north-western counties, where a dry season is 

 -complained of. I may, however, remark, that most of the 

 rains we have had resembled thunder showers, although we 

 bave scarcely had any thunder ; but as such showers only 

 extend over a limited space, it is not imlikely that we may 

 bare had our full share. I have long been of opinion that 

 "thundery weather," as it is commonly called, is most bene- 

 ficiai to vegetation, as well fi-om the moisture that it affords to 

 the earth and foliage, as from the properties which it imparts 

 to the air ; at the same time this benefit to vegetation in a 

 direct sense is accompanied by another in what may be called a 

 negative way, for mj-riads of the lower class of destructive 

 insects fall a prey to the atmospheric influences they are un- 

 able to endure. On the other hand, I am not certain that this 

 same condition of the atmosphere which imparts health and 

 vigour to the higher class of vegetation, does not act in the 

 same way on the lower gi'ades, encouraging mildew, and the 

 long train of esils which follow in its train ; but I can hardly 

 : bring myself to attribute these evils to electricity, I would 

 rather believe that they follow rain falling at a "lower tem- 

 perature than that of the air near the surface of the earth, or a 

 period of continuous wet weather. It would be well if those 

 .interested in such matters would state their views. — J. Robson. 



much of our fruit ; Apricots, Pears, and Plums, being their 

 favourites. AYe have also an abundance of earwigs infesting 

 both fruit and flowers. — A Gardenek. 



"Wasts. — Having seen in your Journal an inquirv- as to 

 ■wasps, I beg to say that we are much troubled with both wasps 

 smd hornets in the neighbourhood of Southampton, and, in 

 .■spite of our protection against them, they are daily spoiUng 



ON AND ABOUT THE SANDS AND ROCKS OF 

 TENBY.— No. 3. 



Although the bedding Calceolaria and Verbena are found 

 to survive the winter in the open air at Penally, yet neither 

 here nor at Stackpole Co\rrt are they exposed to the risk. 

 Plants of those species accidentally left in the borders are those 

 which have endm-ed the exposirre. Yet the climate of Penally 

 and adjacent parts of this peninsula, especially those haviiig 

 a southern aspect, is strikingly temperate. An unmistakeable 

 evidence of this is a standard unprotected shrub of Escallonia 

 macrantha in Miss Robson's garden. It is fully 9 feet high 

 and 8 feet in diameter. The Lilium gigauteum attained there 

 to the same height. 



The wild plants, too, about Penally are such as are unknown 

 to the eye and gladden the heart of those to whom only our 

 more northera flora is previously known. Among Ferns there 

 is Osmunda regalis ; but, in more striking abundance, Lastrea 

 thelypteris, the Marsh Fem. I had been accustomed to look 

 upon this as a rarity, but it is scattered liberally over the marsh 

 between Penally and the sea. Among flowering plants else- 

 where less abimdaut, are Thalictrum minus. Lychnis vesper- 

 tina, and Rosa spinosissima, and I must remark on this Burnet- 

 leaved Rose, that in places upon Penally Bxurows it covers as 

 with a carpet the sandy soil. Sherardia arveusis and Aspara- 

 gus officinalis grow nearer to the sea on Giltar Point, the 

 nearest land to Caldy Island, where Lavatera arborea is found, 

 Gentiana germanica, and G. amarella. 



One of Miss Robson's guests informed me, that two years 

 since a member of his family had found growing wild near Tenby 

 Isolepis gracihs. I thought this must be a mistake, and the 

 more so because " Filix-fcemina," informed me that this would 

 not endure without protection even the winters of Torquay. 

 A plant of the Teuby species was obligingly given me, raised 

 from that originally found on the marshy gi'ouud between the 

 sea and the ruins of Amroth Castle. It proved to be Isolepis 

 setacea. But when cultivated, as tliis specimen was, the leaves 

 are as long and would be as ornamental on the dinner- table as 

 those of I. gi-acilis. 



Immediately in front of the marshy district at Amroth, is 

 that submerged forest which I mentioned in my first com- 

 munication. Mr. Gosse learned from an old man, resident at 

 Amroth, that "People call it Sea-turf; they cart it away for 

 manure, and it all goes to earth : they put it on the Barley 

 and Oats. 'Tis hght stuff, but 'tis the brine in it that's the 

 good. They get it at low water, springs and neaps alike. Any- 

 body can tell its wood by the look — the gram." Mr. Gosse 

 aften^-ards saw specimens of the wood, some soft and decayed, 

 other blocks perforated by, and with the shells ensconced within 

 of Pholas Candida. Other pieces are quite solid, resisting the 

 knife and the saw as firmly as fresh wood. These last, Mr. 

 Gosse observes, are e\idently Oak. The soft specimens appear 

 to be Poplar ; but, he was told. Elm, Willow, and Alder like- 

 wise occur. Trunks and roots are occasionally laid bare after 

 storms, having marks of the axe still fresh upon them. — 

 (Gossc's Tenby.) 



It is difficult to be quite satisfied with what one has said 

 about the place where and those from whom one has received 

 pleasure and kindness, but if I have said little, it is not be- 

 cause I appreciate coldly, .and, having thus endeavoured to be 

 self-exculpated, let me pass on to Penally's neighbouring 

 village, Gumfreston. 



I have aheady, mentioned that the Samphire is still found 

 by the Causeway Mill, near this highly picturesque place. Em- 

 bosomed by trees, in a secluded dell, far from the cottages, and 

 covered with Ivy, is its church ; and I know of not one other 

 in Great Britain where the world is less likely to intrude upon 

 those who kneel within its walls. But there are three springs 

 whose water bubble uji in that dell, which ought to bring thither 

 a thi-ong of those who are traveUiug to win back health. 



It is a fact, incredible as it m.ay seem, that those three springs 

 with barely a yard's breadth of earth between them, yield un- 

 ceasingly streams of water each totally different from the others 

 in its qualities. The highest, they are on a hillside, is pure 

 water ; the middle spring is strongly chalybeate, hlie that of 

 Tun bridge Wells ; and the lowest spring, like that of Harrogate, 

 is impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. There is no shade 



