October 17, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



321 



and back of the house. There can be no doubt that your 

 plants will do well planted inside. We have a strong opinion 

 that when ViiKss are planted inside, there should be openings 

 between the Vines to let the sun reach the ground inside. 

 When the whole roof inside is covered, the ground inside docs 

 not receive enough sun. With Vines trained up the rafters, or 

 down the rafters, there can be no objection whatever to the 

 roots being all inside the house, and any amount of strength 

 can be given by top-dressings and rich waterings.] 



CLIANTIIUS DAMPIERI MARGINATA ELEGANS. 

 AUBRIETIA CAMPBELLI. 



We hnvo received from Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son, of 

 the Wellington Koad Nursery, drawings of these acijuisitions 

 to our garden plants. Tho Clianthus is white, with a uniform 

 scarlet edge round the wings, keel, and standard, whilst tho 

 two-lobed projection at the base of the disk is purplish velvety 

 black as in the old species. It is a most beautiful and unique 

 flower. 



The Aubrietia has white-eyed purple flowers, which it pro- 

 duces in great profusion. It has had awarded to it a first-class 

 certificate at one of tho Kcgcut's Park shows, where it was 

 exhibited by mistake under the name of A. Hendersoni. It 

 was raised by Mr. N. Campbell, Queen's Nurseries, Brighton. 

 It must become a popular bedder. 



B.VRCELONA NUTS GROWN IN ENGL.VND. 



Moke than thirty years ago I sowed some Barcelona Nuts in 

 consequence of a conversation at table, when some denied they 

 would grow, as they were supposed to be kiln-dried. I send 

 you herewith a sample in a bottle of the produce of these same 

 nuts lately gathered. They appear to me to have come true 

 to their parent, although I think larger, and we find them 

 richer in flavour and finer in texture than any English nut, 

 not excepting Kentish Filberts. They are tender, and the shells 

 are very thin. All the trees are not of equal quality in size 

 and handsomeness of fruit, but the latter are all thin-shelled, 

 and first-rate ^in flavour in all seasons. — CH.iELES Ellis, Upjwr 

 East Sheen. 



[We could discern no difference between the nuts sent to us 

 and those imported, except that the shells were rather more 

 tender, and the kernels more moist — characteristics attributable 

 to their being more fresh than those brought from abroad. ] 



A BORDER OF BULBS. 

 Fob a border several hundred feet long, close on 4 feet wide, 

 in front of a wall covered with Roses, as needed by our con'e- 

 spondent " A. K.," the great difiiculty is to have it in full 

 bloom with spring hardy bulbs at one time — that is, if you 

 vary greatly the kind of bulbs. For instance, that border 

 would be very beautiful in February and part of March if 

 planted with Crocus alone, say beginning at front with 1, purple ; 



2, white; 3, blue ; 4, large yeUow ; 5, dark blue ; G, Cloth of 

 Gold or Cloth of Silver ; or three serpentine Unes might be run 

 along the border, tilled with purple, large yellow, and blue, and 

 the semicircular spaces in front filled with Crocus versicolor, 

 and those at top with white or Cloth of Silver. To produce a 

 grand effect the good bulbs should not be more than 2 inches 

 apart in the row. To succeed these there might be fom- rows 

 of Hyacinths, of. distinct colours, as rose, blue, white, crimson. 

 The small Due Van The! Tulips alone would give five rows of 

 distinct colours in the single section, and would only be fi'om 

 4 to 6 inches in height ; they should be planted about 3} inches 

 apart, as 1, red and yellow; 2, rose; 3, white; 4, scarlet; 5, yellow. 

 These would be over early in May, to make way for bedding 

 plants. Of double Tuhps there might be four rows, beginning 

 with 1, Due Van Thol, scarlet and yellow ; 2, La Candern, white ; 



3, Rex Eubrorum, crimson ; 4, Tournesol, shaded dark yellow. 

 These would need no protection, and Hyacinths would need 

 some in wet and frosty seasons. We have only mentioned the 

 common hardy sorts, of which there would be no difiiculty in 

 Beciu-ing plenty for a row several hundred feet in length. 



A nice border would be thus made : — A row of yellow Crocus 

 within inches of the front ; a row of Due Van Thol TuUp, 

 within 9 inches, choosing the scarlet single ; then a row of La 



Candeur, white ; then Rex Rubrorum, crimson ; and then for 



the back a row of Soleil d'Or, or States General Narcissus. 



The straight-row system might be used this season, but our 

 impression is that such a border would be better if, by tho mode 

 of planting it, it were either waved or broken uj) into a regular 

 parterre, and the whole would look better if the surface of the 

 ground were thinly covered with the Swiss Forget-me-not in 

 blue, and Virginian Stock for blush, or with some other early 

 flowering low plant, as Xemophila, sown in autumn and planted 

 out early in spring. These little plants would be a sort of 

 cai-pet for tho bulbs. We hope some of our friends mil help 

 this corrcsiiondent better. 



"IS THE ROSE A FLORISTS FLOWER?" 

 Is the salmon a fisherman's fish ? .\ florist's flower, as I 

 understand it, is a flower which those men who love it most are 

 carefully endeavouring, by selection, inoculation, and cultiva- 

 tion, to improve in form, colour, and habit ; and what flower 

 in all the world is so worthy of their service as the lovely Rose ? 

 I believe " Rosa Canin.\," in his letter to your contemporary of 

 October 7th, to be entirely mistaken in supposing that the florist 

 deprecates those flowers which do not reach his ideal of perfec- 

 tion. It is because he sees so much beauty in a General Jacque- 

 minot, that he strives for a Senateur Vaisse, and it is because 

 his admiration of all Roses is so earnest, that at last he throws 

 up his hat in ecstasies, and gloats upon Charles Lefebvre. I, 

 of course, agree with " Kosa Canixa," that he, of all men else, 

 is to be shunned, who goes about a garden hke an exciseman 

 with his gauge, and admires bj' line and iiile ; and I am grate- 

 ful, as he is, that the Rose defies those wily manipulations 

 which are practised upon certain flowers ; but I hold that the 

 true florist has no sympathy with the ignorance of the one, or 

 the impositions of the other, and that the Rose is, par ex- 

 cellence, that florist's flower. — Maeechal Kiel. 



BOTANICAL COLLECBIONS. 



We recommend the following to the attention of our readers : 



" J. Smith, late CiU'ator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, 

 having through failure of his sight resigned that ofiice, is now 

 desu-ous of disposing of his herbariiun, either as a whole or in 

 separate collections. 



" It consists of a very complete collection of Ferns, and also 

 a general one of flowering plants : — 



" I. — The Fern collection represents more or less fully the 

 Fern Flora of the islands of the West Indies, North America, 

 Mexico, Central America, Peru, New Granada, Venezuela, ■ 

 Guiana, BrazU, Tropical Western xVfrica, South Africa, Mau- 

 ritius, Ceylon, India throughout, Malayan Peninsula and 

 Islands, the Philippine Islands, Hong-Kong, Formosa, China 

 and Japan, Australia, Tasmania, New Hebrides, Sandwich and 

 other islands of the Pacific. 



'• Each species, with few exceptions, is on a separate sheet of 

 stout white paper, 21 inches by 13, with name, synonymes, and 

 references written on the sheet, as also the native coimtiy, and 

 from whom received. Each sheet contains one, two, or more 

 often many specimens of a species ; the various pecuharities 

 and geographical range of individual species is thus well illus- 

 trated, and has been particularly attended to in the formation 

 of this collection ; the number of species being about 2000, 

 more or less, including all the rare and interesting species. 

 The total number of sheets, 6460. If the collection were broken 

 up it could be formed into at least three good sets. The whole 

 collection is scientifically aiTanged, and contained in a cabinet 

 6J by 6,J feet, divided into fifty-five compartments. This col- 

 lection was considered by Sir Wilham Hooker to be second 

 only to his own. 



■' II. — The flowering collection of plants consists of about 

 5000 species, representing nearly the whole of the natiu-al 

 orders ; of these 1600 are native specimens, and above 3300 

 garden, chiefly collected between the years 1824 and 1844, the 

 early-coUected ones being on pajjer less than the usual her- 

 barium size ; the larger number, including Proteacese, Myr- 

 tacea?. New Holland Acacias, and other LeguminosiP, Epa- 

 cridea", &c., are all on full-sized herbarium paper, and arranged 

 in their respective ord£rs. The garden specimens are records 

 of plants introduced by our early collectors, as Masson, Cun- 

 ningham, Bowie, and others, many of which are singular and 

 remarkable, and not now in the gardens of this country. The 



