Jnne 10, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



455 



colouring appearing in many tints, forms, and shades, always 

 contrasting witli the natural green. 



No variation of plants is more common than those of colour, 

 and the colour of plants is one of the readiest marks of dis- 

 tinction. We find it eoattereJ through all the classes of nature 

 animate and inanimate, decking with tints of equal brilliance 

 the shell, the gem, birds, beasts, and reptiles, clouds which 

 attend upon the rising or setting sun, as well as our leaves 

 and flowers, and with no apparent use but that of delighting 

 and cheering mankind with a perpetual display of beauty. 



This beautiful provision of nature has a power of imparting 

 a charm to things the most trivial and otherwise unattractive, 

 but there is nothing that strikes us so agreeably at first sight 

 as the colour of flowers ; it excites our admiration, and we are 

 attracted by its loveliness and charmed with its beauty. The 

 following are the principal colours, and the terms used to dis- 

 tinguish them : — When the margin of the leaf is yellow it is 

 called folia aurea ; when the centre has a yellow spot it is 

 folia aurea variegata ; when the leaf is white on the margin it 

 is called folia argentea, or albo-marginata ; when it is white in 

 the centre it is ciUed folia alba or argentea variegata ; if the 

 leaf is striped or streaked it is known as striata; if a leaf 

 has two colours it is called bicolor ; if three colours it is called 

 tricolor; if the colours are various it is called versicolor; if 

 spotted, maculata. Again, theleaves of some plants are blackish, 

 when this is the case it is called nigricans ; when quite black, 

 ater ; black with a tinge of grey, niger ; copper-coloured, cuprea ; 

 very dark red approaching to black, atro-purpurea ; reddish, 

 rubeseens ; red-stalked, rubicaule. When the leaf is shining, 

 like the Holly for instance, it is called nitida ; velvety as seen 

 in the Coleus and the Gesnereie, it is called velutina. All 

 those plants whose leaves appertain to black contrast well with 

 colours appertaining to yellow or orange, also to silver-grey. 

 As the surface colour of the foliage of different plants is very 

 various terms have been used to describe them. 



Again, some plants appear as if covered with a kind of white 

 dust or powder, as the Auricula and the beautiful Echeveria 

 pulverulenta, and E. farinosa; Incanus a silvery-white-looking 

 substance covering the leaf, as the well-known Veronica iucana 

 and Santolina iucana ; Tomentose or Cottony, a white cotton- 

 like substance covering the whole leaf. — Nathan Cole, Ken- 

 sington Palace Gardens. 



PLANTS FOR A GRAVE. 



Observing in the Journal of 20th of May last a request for 

 information on this subject, I offer a few remarks — results of 

 a practical experience of the difficulties attending any per- 

 manent decoration of graves — difficulties so great, in fact, that 

 I have no hesitation in recommending the total abandonment 

 of the idea, unless exceptional advantages in individual cases 

 may render the chances of success somewhat probable. 



Most of the metropolitan cemeteries are established on a 

 heavy clay soil, which in the winter is excessively damp if not 

 actually waterlogged, and in the summer, should a few weeks 

 of fine weather occur, the soil becomes parched and cracked. 

 To such an extent does the latter condition often attain, that 

 I have seen gaps of several inches in width between the earth 

 and the coping of the grave, leaving the roots of the plants 

 exposed to the drying influence of the sun, and causing their 

 destruction or deterioration for the season. Another obstacle 

 to any permanent decoration is the rapid growth of weeds, 

 which will in the course of a few weeks entirely smother, and 

 eventually starve out, the cultivated plants. 



In such places the remedy is to have the staple soil entirely 

 removed to the depth of 1 foot or more, and the space filled 

 to overflowing (so as to allow for settling) with a compost of 

 light loam and leaf mould, sharpened with grit or silver sand. 

 In the case of an ordinary middle-class grave, say 6 feet by 

 li foot, with head, foot, and curb stones, the gardener attached 

 to the cemetery will do this part of the business for a few 

 shillings, and we may then proceed to plant many subjects 

 with fair hopes of success. 



The plants employed in such a limited space should be of 

 dwarf and slow growth, or their appearance will in a short 

 time be unsatisfactory. An example will, perhaps, be more 

 generally useful than a selection of plants however carefully 

 prepared. A very suitable effect may be produced thus, sup- 

 posing we commence in the autumn : — Centre, a variegated 

 Euonymns sunk in its pot, with a thumb pot inverted under- 

 neath for drainage. At each end a two-year-old plant of 

 Iberis corifolia: this is evergreen, and makes a fine show of 



pure white flowers in May. Down each side next the coping a 

 row of Sempervivum californioum, of which offsets struck 

 now will make nice plants by September, and two dozen will 

 suffice. At each corner plant half a dozen mixed Crocuses 

 about 5 inches deep, and above the Crocuses the same quantity 

 of Snowdrops (single) 'A inches deep. There will be space left 

 for a few small plants of Golden Thyme, or a groundwork of 

 gold tipped Stonecrop (Sedum acre aurea). 



This arrangement will look well until quite the end of May, 

 when the Thyme and Stonecrop begin to turn green and may 

 be taken up. The Iberis should have its flower stems removed 

 and be slightly pruned-in, the leaves of the Crocuses, &c., 

 will have died off, the Euonymus can be lifted, the ground 

 levelled, and a fresh combination attempted. In the centre a 

 plain cross formed of Golden Feather Pyrethrum (two rows of 

 smallish seedlings are better than one of larger plants), and 

 the intermediate space filled-in with Lobelia pumila planted 

 very closely together will look well ; or the cross may be of 

 Echeveria secnnda glauoa raised a little, and the groundwork 

 of Golden Feather sunk an inch or two. If the cross should 

 be considered too " high," the same plantj may be arranged 

 as a ribbon parallel with the Sempervivums. Alternantheras 

 and most of the dwarf succulents may be turned to good 

 account in this style of planting. A small grave may thus be 

 kept appropriately decorated with only two changes in the 

 year; but if frequent visits can be made to it, the Golden 

 Feather Pyrethrum will look all the better in the autumn for an 

 occasional severe pinching-back to keep it down and prevent it 

 flowering. The edges of the plants should also be cut into 

 a tolerably even outline, and not be allowed to straggle and 

 mix. 



A larger or family grave may be planted with fuller-sized 

 plants, and there being a greater body of soil, the extremes of 

 heat and cold will not so much affect the plants as in the case 

 of a small grave. Dwarf Conifers or evergreens, bulbs of all 

 kinds, monthly Roses, and fine-foliage plants are admissible, 

 and will do pretty well if properly attended to ; but the most 

 satisfactory plan would be to have the top spit of soil removed 

 entirely, and the space filled with cocoa-fibre refuse in which 

 to plunge the plants in their pots. Any amount of variety 

 and any number of changes can then be made, and bulbs, 

 such as Tulips, Hyacinths, and Polyanthus Narcissus, may be 

 bloomed one season in the fibre without any pots, saving much 

 trouble. The brown fibre brings out pleasingly the colours of 

 the leaves and flowers, and is uniformlj' moist under the sur- 

 face in the hottest weather. Almost any plant that can be 

 grown and flowered in a pot will be available, and I know such 

 a grave, which always looks bright and beautiful. It is in 

 Nunhead Cemetery behind the chief chapel, and can be easily 

 found. 



In conclusion, I object to the decoration of graves with 

 gaudy flowers, such as scarlet Geraniums and yellow Calceo- 

 larias (because in all well-kept cemeteries the principal walks 

 are bordered with beds of such flowers), especially in the moro 

 retired parts of the grounds, where repose and quiet beauty 

 should reign supreme, in harmony with thoughts of those 

 whom we hope to join when we shall have planted our last 

 flower, and gone to rest from our labour in " God's acre." — ■ 

 F. B., BlachJicatli. 



ROYAL NATIONAL TULIP SOCIETY'S SHOW. 



The above was held in the Botanical Gardens, Manchester, 

 on May 29th, and the Show was remarkable for the high quality 

 and condition of the flowers exhibited. Cheshire, Lincashire, 

 and Yorkshire were strongly represented ; and there were also 

 growers present from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and War- 

 wickshire. 



Talips further south were over, and indeed several fine col- 

 lections in the midlands were over also, or past their strength. 

 The collection of our Hon. Sec, my friend Mr. Barlow, which 

 I am not afraid to say is the richest and moat select in the 

 country, was unfortunately crippled this year by some extensive 

 and dangerous injury to the bulbs at rooting time. The young 

 fibres had, in countless instances, mysteriously refused to face 

 the new soil. A slight layer from a hedgeside had been laid on 

 for the bulbs to start in, and all, when once through this, did 

 well. The diagnosis is difficult as to whether the affection is a 

 sudden disease in a collection of long standiug health grown by 

 a safe old hand, or due to some unsuspected harm in that inch 

 of innocent-looking soil. 



Seeing that this is about the first time that affairs of the 

 florist Tulip have been brought forward in the Journal, and 

 many readers might be puzzled by technicaUties in the priza 



