444 



JODENAIi OF HOETKXJLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



r November 28, 1865. 



they were, and that was higher than for some years. The 

 gronnd, too, at the commencement of the rainy period, was 

 exceedingly dry, and I think evaporation miist have been going 

 on Tei-y rapidly at the time the rain fell, or rather between 

 showers, for some excavating that was going on here in a 

 pasture field having a thick sward on the top, revealed the fact 

 (a certainly unusual one), that after G inches of rain had fallen 

 the rain had not penetrated that depth into the ground; its 

 progress downwards was afterwards more rapid, even apparently 

 when there was no rain, and since the ground has been tho- 

 roughly satitrated, the rainfall necessary to create a flood is 

 not more than one-fourth what it was.— J. Eoeson. 



TAKING IMPRESSIONS OF FERNS. 



In an article which appeared in your Journal of the 14th, 

 copied from the American Gardeners' Mniithbi, a plan is recom- 

 mended for making impressions of Ferns by means of paper 

 sensitised with nitrate of silver. 



It does not there state that the paper ought either to be 

 salted or albumenised. If any person wishes to try to albu- 

 menise the paper himself, instead of buying it ready pre- 

 pared, let him take the white of three or four hen's eggs, and 

 to every oimce of white of egg, add half an ounce of water, 

 beat it all up together till it is all frothed, adding ten grains of 

 common salt to every ounce of solution. Previous to beating 

 it up, pom- it out in a flat porcelain dish to settle. VHien all 

 the froth has settled, and there are no bubbles left, take a 

 sheet of paper by two opposite coraers and float it on this 

 solution, taking care that the middle part of the paper touches 

 the solution first, then gently lower the corners, leave it on for 

 five or six minutes, then hang it up to dry. If kept tho- 

 roughly dry it will last good for a long time. 



To sensitise it, dissolve 1 oz. of nitrate of silver in from S to 

 10 ozs. of distilled or pure filtered rain water ; float the paper, 

 the albumenised side downwards, for five minutes, taking great 

 care to allow no bubbles to intervene between the paper and 

 the sensitising bath. Hang up to dry in the dark, and place 

 in sheets of blotting paper to press it flat previously to using 

 it. It ought not to be kept more than twenty-four hours 

 hefore using it. Sponging, or brushing the solution of silver 

 on the paper with a camel's hair brush, does not answer, as it 

 is almost sure to leave streaks, and it washes some of the albu- 

 men off before it gets fixed by the nitrate of silver. Flint, 

 tone, and fix, as recommended by the American journal ; onlj' 

 it is better to take a second impression from the paper, the first 

 being a negative — (/. c, the Fern appearing white on a dark 

 ground) — by printing fi'om it again you obtain a dark Fern on 

 a white groimd. 



The above process is, however, far more troublesome and 

 costly, and less artistic and durable, than the following : — 

 Obtain some oil paints in tubes. The proper colours can be 

 obtained from F. H. Searle, Stationery Court, Crystal Palace ; 

 the most useful being chrome yellow No. 1, Antwerp blue, and 

 burnt sienna. Gum or pin a sheet of foolscap paper on a 

 board. Squeeze fi'om one of the tubes about as much colour 

 as would cover a sixpence of chrome yeUow, and about half the 

 quantity of Antwerp blue, and add a few drops of sweet oil 

 (Lucca salad oil). Make a dabber of some cotton wool tied up 

 in a rag of cambric or fine calico, and rub the colour over the 

 paper till it is well mixed, and is about the consistency of 

 printer's ink. Then take a Fern leaf, or any other leaf which 

 you wish to copy, lay it on the colour, and dab it well with the 

 dabber on both sides tiU the colour seems to have covered the 

 leaf all over without looking too wet. Take some plain white 

 paper without any size on it — the best is good white demy, or 

 liniag paper used by paper-hangers for ceilings and walls — 

 double the paper, and place the Fern flat between the folds of 

 the paper, rub it carefully with the finger firmly all over, not 

 aDowing the leaf to move, then open the sheet of paper and 

 you wiU find a perfect impression of the leaf. The same leaf 

 will do over and over again if it is only fresh dabbed with 

 colour", and more colour and oil added when the colour is too 

 dry. Of course, by a careful selection of blue and yellow, and 

 toning with red or sienna if required, it is easy to match the 

 exact coloiu- of every leaf, which can be readily told when the 

 colour is first laid on the leaf. 



I have used this process with great success in making orna- 

 mental paper borders for rooms. It is exceedingly quick work 

 when once the proper cousistency for the colour is found, and 

 a few experiments wDl enable any one to do this. Stems can 

 be painted in afterwards to join the foUage together, and any 



imperfections can be filled in with ordinary water colours, if a 

 little oxgall is used. Very beautiful effects can be produced, 

 too, by printing lightly and painting in shadow with water 

 colours, or, if a leaf is much veined, printing in a dark colour, 

 then washing the impression over with a light colour in water 

 colour's. By printing leaves in varieties of colours, tipping the 

 ends of Ferns with brown or sienna, and painting in the stems 

 artistically, very striking effects may be produced. 



The gi-eat advantage of this over the photographic process is, 

 that being printed in oil the impression is quite permanent, no 

 washing, fixing, or after-toning is required, and with three 

 tubes of colour, costing 6d. each, and waU-hning paper from 

 Is. to Is. 6(1. per piece of twelve yards, many hundreds of im- 

 pressions can be taken, and any size or shape of paper can be 

 used, whereas in photography you are limited by the size .of 

 the porcelain floating-bath. It is of great advantage in wood 

 or stone earring where an accurate shape of leaf is required, 

 as one can take specimens during the summer of any kind of 

 foliage, and they are much easier to carve from than dried 

 leaves, as they are much less perishable. — X. Y. Z. 



MRS. PINCE'S BLACK MUSCAT GRAPE. 

 Three years ago Mr. Pince, of Exeter, sent us a bunch of a 

 seedling Black Muscat Grape, which we noticed at the time as 

 being a great acquisition even to our present numerous varieties. 

 Last week we were favoitred with another bunch, and, if possible, 

 we are even better satisfied with the character and merits of 

 this exceUent Grape than we were on the former occasion. It 

 is a true Black Muscat, producing berries and hunches as large 

 as those of the Muscat Hamburgh ; but the skin is thicker and 

 more tough than in that variety, and the benies are borne on 

 much more rigid, robust, and short footstalks. The whole as- 

 pect of the Grape leads one to believe that it possesses an ex- 

 ceedingly hardy constitution ; and its stout, thick, green stalks, 

 and tough membranous skin indicate that it is one that will 

 hang as long as the latest. The Muscat flavour is as powerful 

 as in any other Muscat. 



WHAT JLA.Y BE SEEN IN VILLA GARDENS. 



It is very interesting and instructive to walk through some 

 suburban neighbourhoods and see how the residents turn their 

 httle gardens to account. It is to me a source of never-ending 

 study, and I am free to confess that I have dei-ived many very 

 usef id hints from what was done in these humble but attractive 

 gardens. 



In gardening we have our large marketing establishments, 

 which are managed generally upon strictly commercial prin- 

 ciples, and, again, we have many private gardens, which are, 

 to a certain extent, expected to prove remunerative ; but I ap- 

 prehend, when we come to villa and cottage gardens, that we in 

 them see a source of more pleasure than is afforded by any of 

 the others to which I have just referred. As it is on the 

 banks of the smaller streams throughout the cotmtry, away 

 from the scats of ceaseless industry, that we generally find the 

 beauties of nature most fully displayed ; so in the gardens of 

 villas, whose occupants for the most part have retired from 

 active hfe, we find a gi-eater variety of taste and decorative in- 

 genuity than in larger gai'dens, and those managed more accord- 

 ing to the practical and scientific rules of horticulture. 



I will here attempt to describe how a few of these villa 

 gardens are decorated. The variety of taste which exists is 

 often very amusing, if not at times instructive. I know one 

 villa garden which is scarcely one-eighth of an acre in extent, 

 and the cottage is nearly in the middle of the garden ; at one 

 side are a few Lombardy Poplars to screen the view of adjoin- 

 ing premises ; then there are a few Weeping Willows, which 

 overhang a good part of one side of the garden ; and along the 

 side next to the street, growing entwined in the paUngs, and 

 overtopping it, is a hedge of Laurustinus, intermixed with some 

 Sweet Briars, which greatly assist in giving a sweet i-efreshing 

 air to the httle place, and remind us of rural scenes. 



Now, this small garden, of which about two-thirds is more 

 or less overhung by trees from 25 to 40 feet high, would be re- 

 garded by many as a hopeless position for successful flower 

 gardening, but not so with the occupant of this snug retreat ; 

 and his case is one of a series of instances which I hope to de- 

 scribe, of how one person often overcomes difiieultieB which to 

 another would appear insurmountable, and finds a source of 

 pleasure and contentment in doing so. The Utile hedge of 



