November 11, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



375 



be contrived, and in doiog this a certain degree of cantion is 

 necessary. To preserve the plants in health, and keep the 

 water clear as crystal, perfect cleanliness is required, therefore 

 the fewer hiding-places that are made for dirt the better. Any 

 little caverns which are made should be so placed that their 

 innermost recesses can be easily reached by a pair of long. 

 Blender, wooden forceps, and all decaying pieces of fronds 

 removed. A little very fine gravel, free from sand, should be 

 scattered over the bottom, and for the other materials fancy or 

 convenience will decide what to use. Brain coral, honeycombed 

 rock, felspar, or pieces of various-coloured marble and granite, 

 all look well. On and among these, in such positions as best 

 suit their different sizes and colours, the Algre must be anchored, 

 dropping the little bits of rock on which they are growing, or, 

 rather, to which they are attached, into the crevices, or other- 

 wise fixing them, while the exquisitely delicate fronds float 

 freely and gracefully above, like nothing but themselves. 



With ordinary care the wa'er may be kept good for a twelve- 

 month without changing it ; under good management it will 

 last for years. To guard against its original density being 

 increased through evaporation, the heisht of the water when 

 the tank is first filled should be marked upon the glass with a 

 diamond, and whenever it falls below this fill it up to the mark 

 again with fresh rain water ; but should any loss occur by 

 leakage, as is sometimes the case, it must be made good with 

 salt water, and not fresh. 



In making a selection of Algw the question of which to grow, 

 owing to the wealth of species to choose from, will rather 

 resolve itself into the negative form, and what not to grow 

 become the puzzle. In a rough way seaweeds are divided into 

 three great classes — the Olive, the Red, and the Green. The 

 Bed contains the most suitable for the aquarium. Some of 

 the finest will be fonnd in the species Callithamnion, Bonne- 

 maisoniana, Plocanium, Deiesseria, Nitophyllum. The common 

 Irish Moss, Chondrua crispus, and Rhodomenia palmata, the 

 "caller dnlse" of the Edinburgh fishwives, are both easily 

 kept and look well. Of the Green sorts the most handsome is 

 Ulva latissima, with long frilled fronds very much resembling 

 those of the Fern Scolopendrium crispum. 



I mentioned the water being kept pure and wholesome for 

 months and sometimes years without changing ; but I have 

 also known it more than once become foul in a very short 

 time after being first put in, and that, too, without any very 

 apparent cause. If all the materials have been perfectly clean 

 when put in, the Algse free from decaying matter, and the water 

 procured pure from the sea, not near the mouth of a river, 

 then the opacity, if only of a light milky colour, will most likely 

 diBippear of itself after the water has been aerated a few times 

 with a small syringe ; but if, on the contrary, the water assume 

 a brandy tinge, however slight, it may be emptied out at once 

 as hopelessly contaminated. When all is well a gentle disturb- 

 ance with the syringe mast be given once a-day. To preserve the 

 chemical balance and keep up some motion in the water, a few 

 of the common little rook fishes should be introduced. Those 

 known as blennies are very lively, and are easily procured and 

 kept ; also a few molluscs, and some of the very small crabs, 

 particularly the hermit or tenant crab, whose restless habit of 

 clattering about continually with his borrowed house on his 

 back is most amusing. Last but not least, there are the sea 

 anemones, and some conspicuous spots should be kept on which 

 to place a few of them. An aquarium, even though it contaioed 

 nothing else but a collection of these, would be most inter- 

 esting. Their colours are so various — striped, flamed, and 

 jewelled, purple, violet, red, pink, and nearly white, and their 

 resemblance to flowers — living, eating, and, for aught that 

 we know, in some degree thinking creatures though they be — 

 is so striking, that they almost come within the leg timate pro- 

 vince of the floriculturist. How they live is a miracle, for I 

 have kept specimens of them seemingly in perfect health for 

 more than eighteen months, and only fed them with morsels 

 of oyster at intervals of five or six weeks. They, as well as all 

 seaweeds intended for the aquarium, should be removed from 

 the rocks by chipping away with a chisel the small piece to 

 which they adhere — no easy task sometimes in the case of the 

 anemones, as they generally affix themselves to some hard 

 smooth surface, or in some snug nook, from which it is raiher 

 difficult to take them unhurt. — Ateshiee Gardener. 



Royal Horticdltural Society. — At the meeting to be held 

 on Tuesday. November IGth, the following prizes are offered — 

 yiz. :— By W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., 1, Collection of Winter 



Bedding Plants, to be exhibited in pots or boxes, £2 and £1 • 

 By the Society, 2, Four Cbrysantbemums, large-flowered, in 

 pots, distinct (open), £1, 1 js., and 10s. ; 3, Fuur Chrysanthe- 

 mums, Pompons, in pots, distinct (open), £1, 1.5*., and 10s. ; 

 4. Twelve Chrysanthemums, cut blooms, distinct (nurserymenl^ 

 10s., 7s., and 5s. ; .5, Six Clirysauthemums, cut blooms, distinct 

 (amateurs), 10s,, 7s., and .5;. ; C, Twelve Plants bearing decora- 

 tive fruits, in pots, varied (open), £1 5s., £1, and 15s. ; 7, Six 

 Plants bearing decorative fruits, in pets, varied (open), 15s., 

 10s., and 5s. ^ 



BEDDING PELARGONIUMS— YELLOW 

 CALCEOLARIAS. 



Another season is nearly gone, leaving behind it many 

 useful lessons. The effects of the passing season as regards some 

 branches of horticulture have been remarkable, rendering the 

 year one to be remembered and quoted for a long time. Cold, 

 chilling blasts swept over the land, and heavy moisture-laden 

 clouds obscured the bright sky of spring, shutting out the warm 

 rays of the sun so necessary to cherish and develope tender 

 vegetation. Very welcome was the change when the wini?, 

 shifting to a more genial quarter, dispersed the dark clouds, 

 and the sun with daily increasing power dispelled the super- 

 abundant moisture, penetrating and warming the soil, qnicken- 

 ing the motion of the sluggish sap, and animating and beanti- 

 fjing the whole face of nature. 



The effects of this protracted cold were very visible in our 

 flower gardens during the early weeks of the summer ; even 

 the sturdy zonal Pelargoniums appeared brown and stunted for 

 a time ; but at length all worked right, bed after bed put on its 

 best appearance, and the bright glow of the whole design pro- 

 claimed it summer. 



Although it is intended that these notes should refer more 

 especially to bedding Pelargoniums, yet I must remark, in pass- 

 ing, the great beauty of the beds of Calceolarias this year. I 

 never remember seeing this flower more effective and useful, for 

 the beds of it were in full beauty long before the earliest beds of 

 Pelargoniums. Nothing is so effective in a design as a Jew 

 bright masses of Aurea floribunda if not overdone ; it relieves, 

 it brightens, it beautifies. It is one of those flowers for which 

 we have no substitute ; but as with many other bedding plants, 

 its bold and striking colour renders it a somewhat difficult, or 

 rather dangerous subject, for if too much of it be used it serves 

 bat to mar or render gaudy where it should only brighten. 

 Yet, notwithstanding the great and early display produced by 

 the Calceolarias, when the tardy Pelargoniums at length made 

 growth and bloESomed, the diversity of colour both of foliage 

 and flower which is their peculiar property at once established 

 their supremacy. 



To be really enjoyable, a flower garden must not only be 

 beautiful as a whole, but the beds must be interesting when 

 looked upon individually ; and it is from the numerous sterling 

 sorts of Pelargoniums that we obtain materials with which this 

 effect may best be produced. As far as I have been able to 

 judge, many of the old varieties are still unsurpassed. For 

 producing a rich and dazzling mass of bright scarlet, of Cybister 

 it may be said that it has " no superior, nor jet an equal." 

 In a comparison of its merits with Lady Constance Grosyenor, 

 the latter, in sporting parlance, is " nowhere ;" its habit is cer- 

 tainly very fine, but in these days of massing, abundance of 

 blossom must rank first. Plant Cybister thickly, and its thin 

 growth ceases to be a blemish. 



Stella, Minimum, Amy Hogg, Waltham Seedling, Provosl, 

 Lord Palmerston, and Christine have all been very fine. One 

 question which constantly presented itself to my mind during 

 the past season was. Is Christine yet beaten ? Maid of Kent 

 is unquestionably a fine variety ; its growth is sturdy and 

 compact, its trasses are large and abundant, and its deep pink 

 tint is unrivalled ; but it has just one fault that spoils all 

 these advantages, and that is, that its flower stalks are so loijg 

 that its trusses, instead of just nestling in or being slightly 

 elevated above the foliage, are home above it in so high and 

 irregular a manner as to quite unfit it for small beds. Perhaps 

 others who have cultivated it will kindly offer their opinion of 

 its merits. Another excellent kind which has been very fine is 

 St. George. It is a strong grower, but its very deep scarlet 

 flowers are quite distinct from those of any other variety. Dr. 

 Hogg, too, is a splendid kind, of good habit of growth ; the 

 truss is large and handsome, resembling Amy Hogg, but the 

 flowers are broader in petal and deeper in colour. Violet Hill 

 is the best cherry-coloured Nosegay Pelargonium I have evar 



