292 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ October 1, 187-f. 



deetitnte of a certain pose of dignity, and reminds one some- 

 what of a peusioned-off housekeeper, who " rose from nurse, 

 and was in the family for years ;" and is not that a pleasing 

 Bight, speaking as it does of quiet and content ? Pansies speak 

 of this. See them where we may, they shadow from without 

 the stability and easy comfort of the home within. They are 

 not indicative of grandeur and gaiety, but rather of quiet 

 home enjoyment which mayhap the grand and the gay not 

 nnfrequently long for. Let them, then, have a word of recog- 

 nition, let them not remain in obscurity for ever. Tlieir place 

 is in the mixed garden, wherever that garden may be situate. 

 It may have a place, as it ought to have, in the nobleman's 

 demesne ; it may be, as it often is, in the snug secluded par- 

 sonage ; it should be, because the best suited, a part of the 

 appendage of the British workman's home : but wherever the 

 mixed garden is, there let Pansies be. 



I am not going to enumerate varieties, or treat the Pansy now 

 as a florists' flower, it is as a garden plant that I prefer to view 

 it ; yet I cannot help asking how many finer things have we, 

 richer and of more real beauty than Pansy Imperial Blue, 

 and what more bright than the glowing Cloth of Gold ? How 

 pure and clear is the early-blooming Blue King, and how in- 

 tense and massive the later-flowering Celestial Blue ! These 

 are selfs useful to grow in quantity to make a garden gay 

 rather than to be treated as florists' flowers after the manner 

 of the pai'ticoloured varieties. Then there is the Magpie, 

 quaint almost as its mottled patronymic ; for it only puts on 

 its white plumage in autumn and spring, casting it again in 

 the hot season of summer. This is a variety for every old 

 garden ; and it is admired, too, by many more people than 

 possess it, judging by the request for cuttings by those who 

 see it when in full feather. Then what grand, gay, wonderful 

 varieties there are now in the fancy class ! They positively 

 make people stop to look at them, and many to stoop and 

 measure them. I have seen three and four-year-olds do this ; 

 and if the newer kinds of the Downies and Dicksons have 

 made any reasonable advance in size and colour, they must 

 be wonderful indeed. 



Tliis is a very good time of the year to inorfa'e Pansies. 

 The autumn growth will bristle at the base with rootlets, and 

 these sprigs have only to be planted in ordinary h'ght soil to 

 take root and grow ; but they must be pricked-in deeply, leav- 

 ing only an inch of green tip out of the ground. Finer indi- 

 vidual blooms are produced from cuttings. These should be 

 made of fresh crisp shoots that have not bloomed, and have 

 solid — not hollow — stems ; put under a hand-light in free soO, 

 the surface covered with grit, and watered and shaded, they 

 wiU soon become plants. The covering is best removed at 

 night for the benefit of refreshing dews — the best of stimulants 

 to make Pansies, Celery, and Groundsel grow. But for ordi- 

 nary purposes in ordinary gardens the handiest way of increase 

 is by root-division of the young autumn growth. The divisions 

 should be planted in a nursery bed, and when nice plants, re- 

 plant where required to bloom. Yet this final planting must 

 not be deferred until late in the spring ; that is a very common 

 and very fatal error. Pansy planting with the rest of the bedding 

 plants in April or May is, as the common saying goes, " the 

 road to no town ;" still this is often done, and then the plants 

 are condemned for transient blooming. It is the very way, 

 and the very best way, to create what is so severely condemned. 

 Plant them early, in November if possible, but not later than 

 January, or there can be no just judgment on their merits. 

 Plant early, plant deeply, surround them with sharp grit to 

 tickle the slugs and make them turn their tails, stay them 

 with sticks or pegs to keep the wind from twisting their necks, 

 and then when the cultivator has done his duty expect them 

 to do theirs. They are easily raised from seed sown in light 

 soil in a shady spot in March, for blooming the same season, 

 and in August to stand over the winter, and bloom finely in 

 spring. In this old land of ours, the land of old homes and 

 associations, let not the old flowers be altogether forgotten, 

 but give them a home and habitation, and never hustle them 

 at the dictates of imperious fashion out of the gardens of their 

 native land. — J. Weight. 



NOVELTIES IN THE EOYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



MESEMHETANTnE5inii TRUNCATELLOM is fiowering in the 

 Succulent house. It is one of the most curious of the genus 

 both in form and colour, and is also extremely rare and little 

 known. Though introduced in 1795, it was figured for the 

 first time in any work in the " Botanical Magazine " for January 



of this year. It is nearly allied to M. obconeUum, but is very 

 much larger, and the leaves are of a livid brown colour ; the 

 flowers are yellow. It may be increased, though very slowly, 

 by division. 



Cedronella oana is flowering on the Rockwork. It is a pretty 

 suffruticose Labiate, with dark carmine-coloured flowers, and 

 is worth a place in every collection. Though an old plant it 

 is not very commonly cultivated. It is considered hardy, but 

 does not always survive the winter ; a few young plants from 

 cuttings should be kept in a greenhouse or frame for the winter. 

 It flowers very freely, and the leaves are sweet-scented. 

 Polygonum Brunonis is very pretty and suitable for rockwork. 

 It produces a tuft of oblanceolate leaves ; the flower stems 

 are erect, about 1 foot high, and terminate in racemes of pink 

 flowers. Omphalodes Lucilia; is producing a few flowers, 

 though out of season. It is very rare, both as a wild and 

 cultivated plant. The leaves are smooth and glaucous, not at 

 all according with the usual character of the Boragineas, to 

 which it belongs. The flowers present the shades of colour 

 between piuldsh purple and azure blue. It is one of the very 

 choicest plants for rockwork. Increase is effected by careful 

 division. In winter it should be kept rather dry, as it is liable 

 to damp-off. A native of Asia Minor. " It inhabits consider- 

 able altitudes, attaining 8000 feet." It was figured in the 

 " Botanical Magazine " for July of last year. 



Fourcroya Selloa is in flower in the Succulent house, and 

 has never yet been figured. F. bommelyni, also referred to 

 at page 72, proves identical with F. gigantea, figured in the 

 " Botanical Magazine," 48, t. 2250. F. bommelyni itself is 

 quite distinct, and in many collections F. gigantea may be 

 doing duty for it ; cultivators should therefore take note. 



COTTAGE GARDEN SOCIETIES. 



Any sane person must acknowledge that cottage garden 

 societies are doing a vast amount of good. I do not propose 

 to dwell at present upon the good resulting from them, but to 

 point out a few errors and inconsistencies connected with 

 them. I will, however, merely state en jmssant that in my 

 opinion the best results come from judging the crops as they 

 are growing in the gardens and allotments, rather than from 

 the collections in the show-field. I could give many reasons 

 for this if it is at all disputed. Nevertheless, have your great 

 shows by all means ; they give so much pleasure to visitors, 

 exhibitors, and everybody concerned, excepting secretaries and 

 judges. Now, I ask, Is it not possible to lessen the wear and 

 tear of mind and body these gentlemen have to undergo on the 

 occasion of a " grand exhibition and floral /efc ? " The duty 

 of officiating at a show in London, Liverpool, or Manchester, 

 is as play compared to that of being secretary or judge at a 

 cottage garden society's show in a country village, for although 

 there is more to do at the large shows, it is done more system- 

 atically, and everyone knows what he has to do. 



I believe the great stumbhng-block of cottage garden 

 societies is making rules which they cannot enforce. The 

 rules should be made less harsh, and when made should be 

 enforced to the letter. ' Why should it be printed in the 

 schedules, "no produce wUl be received after nine o'clock," 

 and italicised " this rule will be strictly adhered to," when 

 everybody knows he can take in his vegetables at half-past 

 nine or even ten ? And why should the judges be summoned 

 to attend at nine, when they cannot possibly commence their 

 duties before eleven ? It is only those who have the charge of 

 large establishments that know the value of an hour or two in 

 the morning, and the mortification they experience of being 

 hurried away from home and having left something undone, 

 merely to stand about on the wet grass for an hour or two doing 

 nothing, and perhaps without even an introduction to one's 

 fellow judges. You must not look inside the tents, and yon 

 must not go out of sight, for you will be wanted directly. But 

 if your lot is hard, what must be that of the poor secretary, 

 with all his work to do, and everybody tugging at his elbow? 

 However, the secretary's duties only come once a-year ; those 

 of a judge often come two or three times a-week. 



In the course of time all is ready for the judges; it is per- 

 haps eleven o'clock or half-past, and visitors are to be admitted 

 at one. Now, if there is one thing more than another that 

 takes time to judge it is cottagers' vegetables ; there are such 

 a large number of exhibits, and many of them are so much 

 alike that at first sight it seems almost a hopeless task ; if, 

 however, your brother judge is a qualified one impossibilities 

 soon vanish, and the prizes are awarded to your own satisfao- 



