January 30, 1866. ] 



aOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



89 



throats — a curious primitive mountain race, reganling the 

 railway much as we regard a new comet, wondering whether 

 its advent portends good or evil, but iu either case whenever it 

 is visible, always gazing and always wondering. 



Susa is a first-rate place for botanical scrambles, so directly 

 after we arrived we set off in search of plants. First my com- 

 panion found, in the crevice of a huge rock, several fine plants 

 of Asplenium fontanum, fresh and green — my companion, 

 mark, who thought it was viride, and not I, who knew better ! 

 — so unequally distributed are Fortune's favours. Oh ! how 

 jealous I was, and am to this minute, for I could find no other 

 root, though I searched long and well. I longed to see this 

 delicate and lovely Fern iu a home of its own choosing. I re- 

 membered my long and unavailing struggles to make it take 

 kindly to English soil, how the slugs would eat the young 

 juicy fronds, and the sun would dry them prematurely, so that 

 at best some halt-dozen slug-eaten, dark greenish-yellow fronds 

 were aU I ever could manage to show in my Devonshire 

 fernery. I hardly wondered when I looked at font.inum's own 

 dwelling-place — the cozy, shady crevice in the warm sun- 

 beaten rock, the pure mountain ail- bringing moisture from the 

 Bnow-laden Alps on its journey to the south. I must certainly 

 go again to Susa that my friend may no longer feel she out- 

 shone me in that Feni scramble I 



On another mountain I found quantities of the Anemone 

 alpina — a true Wind-Flower, for, after a few days' ripening in the 

 sun, the feathery petals fiy off at a touch, like the seed of the 

 Dandelion, by whicli, in oiu' childhood, we used to count the 

 hour, calling them " clocks." The leaves of the A. alpina are 

 of the softest, most silvery-looking green. I tried to di-y the 

 flowers, but at the least pressure the whole fabric gave way, 

 leaving only a heap of flu^ ruins ; but I have since seen these 

 gummed together in a mass, which preserves the appearance of 

 the original flower. The specimen I refer to came from the 

 Pic de Bergons in the Pyrenees. 



In the same neighbourhood we found Silene italics, which 

 has the most delicious scent. Some of the meadows were 

 literally covered with the Narcissus poeticus : we gathered 

 handsful, and I fear their extreme beauty and scent rather 

 diverted us from the more rare specimens which seemed to 

 abound on every side. Growing amidst the Narcissus was a 

 tall and veiy handsome Scorzonera (vUlosa?) with large amber 

 flowers, the solitary leaves completely clasping the stem ; at 

 first I thought it Hieracium amplexicaule, but I afterwards 

 found the same plant in the Botanical Gardens at Geneva with 

 the name I have given. I also foimd a large and veiy hand- 

 some yellow Vetch. Berberis vulgaris grew in quantities on 

 the rocks, and many another shrub and flower, gone, alas ! from 

 my memory and my book. In the latter are still many speci- 

 mens imnamed, indeed one whole page full, for on my return 

 from our hunt I found a large collection of plants just brought 

 in for me by two of our railway companions — EngUsh gentle- 

 men, who, seeing my taste, kindly set off on a flower-himting 

 expedition to gratify it, and, in addition to Susa specimens, 

 added Daphne cncorum from Lago JIaggiore where it abounds 

 in profusion, and other Italian finds. 



What a pleasant evening we had in that queer old rickety 

 Italian inn, discussing om- numerous treasures over a cup of 

 English ! tea, made from a private store, carried by us for 

 specially honoured occasions — a party of entire strangers, yet 

 how unstranger-Uke meeting so sociably together on that even- 

 ing, yet never to meet on earth again, for the strangers were to 

 be up with the light and away over Mont Cenis in a diligence 

 drawn by fourteen mules, while we were lazily turning round 

 in bed meditating on the pleasures of vetturino, or devouring 

 fried little birds, with other mountain delicacies, at breakfast. 

 It seems a great mistake for the pass of Mont Cenis to be 

 made in the night time, which is, however, the most popular 

 time for the diligences ; looking back to our ascent I feel I 

 would not have lost one half hour of daylight for the world. — ■ 



FrLIX-F(EMISA. 



GOLDEN AND TRICOLOR-LEAVED GERANIUMS. 



If the importance of the advice given by Mr. Eeid at page 

 26 — viz., to have the plants well established in pots before 

 planting, were more fully recognised and carried out, we should 

 have fewer complaints about the " shabby appearance," and 

 " the difficulty of management " of these valuable Geraniums. 

 On the plants being small and sickly, or strong, healthy, and 

 •well establishel at the time of planting-out, depends failure or 

 .success. Few need ever think of being successful with these 



Geraniums by submitting them to the treatment generally 

 accorded to stronger-growing varieties. They require much 

 more coaxing and nursing throughout the winter and spring 

 months, to have them in perfection in summer. 



Having been here very successful in the propagation and 

 after-management of some kinds of the above Geraniums, I 

 ventirre to state how we proceed with them. The plants, being 

 lifted from the flower-beds in autumn before they experience 

 any frost, are potted in light, rich soil, and placed near the 

 glass in a house where the temperature can be maintained at 

 about 50'. They grow away strongly, and by the 1st of Feb- 

 ruary are capable of producing a large number of cuttings. 

 These are taken off when about 2 or 3 inches long, and only 

 the very undermost leaves are removed. The more leaves left 

 on the cuttings the sooner will a callus be formed, and rooting 

 take place. The soil, composed of about equal parts of leaf 

 mould, decayed sphagnum, and sOver sand, bemg prepared, small 

 (■51-sizedj pots are tilled with it. A hole is made in the centre 

 of the soil in each pot, and filled with silver sand ; the cuttings 

 are then inserted in the sand, and after having been gently 

 watered, are plunged near the glass in a bottom heat of 15''. 

 They are placed thinly together, so that each leaf may catch 

 all the Ught possible, a most important point in the short days 

 of early spring. They receive no more water except akkiff or 

 two with the syringe every day until rooted, which they are to 

 the sides of the pots iu ten or twelve days. They are then 

 potted into 3 J or 4-iuch pots in a soil similar to that used at 

 first, with the addition of aUttle loam, and decayed cow or sheep- 

 dung. It is here that the advantage of having each in a small 

 pot is made manifest. They can be potted without destroying 

 a single root, whereas, if lifted or shaken out of pots or pans, 

 the roots are more or less mutilated, consequently the plants 

 receive a severe check, which materially aft'eets their growth. 

 After being potted they are again placed near the glass in a 

 warm house, and being regularly attended to in watering, they 

 grow vigorously, soon fiUing their pots with roots. About the 

 middle of April they are placed in a cold pit or frame, and in 

 about three weeks more are placed out of doors where they can 

 be protected on the appearance of frost. Towards the end of 

 May they are turned out of their pots and planted in their 

 summer quarters. A too sudden transition from a high to a 

 low temperature must be guarded against, for if the plants be 

 subjected to this the loss of a large number of the under leaves 

 wUl be the penalty. Although it involves a little more labour, 

 it is far better to liarden-oS gradually, in which case no bad 

 resnlts follow. 



Here, ont of several hundreds, including Mrs. Pollock, Sun- 

 set, and others, propagated and treated in the manner described, 

 not a single cutting or plant was lost ; and when planted out 

 they grew so vigorously as to more than realise the most san- 

 guine expectations formed of them. 



It is only for those who have had any difficulty in managing 

 these excellent and showy varieties of Geraniums that I have 

 ventured to make these remarks. Through a deficient know- 

 ledge of their special requirements, many plants have eventually 

 suffered martyrdom at the hands of their best and warmest 

 friends. — J. A., Whittingham Gardens. 



THE OLD FIG TREES AT ST, JOHN'S, NEAR 

 RYDE. 



Close to the east side of Eyde, in the Isle of Wight, stands 

 the old manorial residence of St. John's, long the family seat 

 of the ancestors of Sir .John Simeon, Bart., M.P. The Simeon 

 family have not lived there for upwards of thirty years, but 

 reside at another seat towards the west end of "the island. 

 During the above period the house has always been let to some 

 family of distinction. Since the Simeon family resided here 

 the town of Hyde has more than doubled in extent and in- 

 habitants, and is every season attracting a larger number of the 

 middle and upper classes of society, who are able to afford and 

 can enjoy a short stay at the seaside. Few towns possess 

 greater attractions than Eyde, and being readily accessible from 

 London and evei-y large town, none need hesitate to take a 

 journey to Eyde. There are four lines of railway that come to 

 some convenient landing place on the opposite shores. Ports- 

 mouth and Stokes Bay are those to which passengers come who 

 wish to reach Eyde by the nearest route. Then for passengers 

 from the west, there are Southampton and Lymington. 



But to return to Eyde and its visitors, and the old gardens 

 at St. John's. About fourteen months ago there died in the 



