Novoraber 10, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



451 



together twenty years ago could not compete with those we 

 uow have. This remark may appear Buperfluons, but if we 

 turn to the Dahlia I imagine the best stands exhibited twenty 

 years ago would quite equal those of the present time. 



New kinds and new features in the Geranium have been 

 strongly advocated, and to some extent secured, whilst in some 

 other cases there has been a decline, as with those belonging 

 to the class of which Mrs. Pollock may be regarded as the 

 typo, which are less patronised than before, owing to some of 

 the best-marked sorts being only shy growers. A more robust 

 class, the Gold and Bronze, have been more extensively grown. 

 There is, however, one more class to which I intend more 

 especially to call attention, and that is the Silver-edged 

 section as it is called. From the first I have always regarded 

 the White or Silver-edged class as more important in the 

 general parterre than the Golden one; for in the distance, 

 when surrounded by greenery, it looks better, and especially 

 as compared to the many-coloured varieties, of which Lady 

 CuUum, Lucy Grieve, and others were at one time the cream. 

 This remark, of course, is meant to apply where plants have 

 to be looked at from a distance, or where in conjunction with 

 green foliage of other kinds. 



But it is not necessary here to urge the claims of one class 

 against another, rather let us see what has been done in the 

 Silver-edged section ; and here it must be confessed the im- 

 provement for a great many years has been very small indeed, 

 for it is not unusual now to meet with one of the very oldest 

 class, Flower of the Day, which has homo the test of fully 

 a quarter of a century, and is still admii-ed by many. Others, 

 however, insist on one having a clearer white margin — that of 

 Flower of the Day being a soft creamy white ; while some 

 also want bright scarlet flowers, and these, too, of fair size. 

 All requirements have not been supplied by any great num- 

 ber of varieties, and it is not unusual to see in a garden, 

 which boasts of its hundreds of flowering Geraniums, only 

 one Silver-edged variety, and this often so much neglected 

 as not to be dignified with any other name than the Silver- 

 edged one. Fortunately, however, for the guidance of those 

 who have not the means of growing many kinds, and also 

 to afford the public the benefit of the judgment on the merits 

 of new kinds of those best qualified to give it, the Royal 

 Horticultural Society has for some years been in the habit of 

 planting-out in their own garden all the varieties sent to them 

 for trial, and these being all grown under the same conditions, 

 aud their merits or failings duly chronicled, the report on 

 them is of great value to those who grow the Geranium. The 

 commendations are by no means scattered broadcast, but some- 

 times a certificate of merit is awarded to a choice variety 

 in its section, as was the case the present season to one that 

 I have had the opportunity of seeing in a growing condition 

 for two or three years. It is of the Silver-edged section, aud 

 was, I believe, named Little Trot by Mr. Davis, its successful 

 raiser. Mr. Davis has the management of the grounds of the 

 Maidstone Cemetery, which he has embellished in a manner 

 that far excels anything of the kind I have ever met with 

 elsewhere, and he has for years been in the habit of raising 

 hundreds of seedhng Geraniums, and amongst them was Little 

 Trot. This, from its compact habit, its neat foliage of a uni- 

 form size, and rather less than in the generality of such kinds, 

 added to the clearness of the white of its margin, was admired 

 by all who saw it, and Mr. Davis was advised to subject it to 

 the test of the Horticultural Society, and it has been awarded 

 ft certificate of merit. I have no doubt it will become a fa- 

 vourite with all by whom it may be grown, as it seems well 

 adapted to fill those spaces in panel beds that require a Silver- 

 edged Geranium of neat but not stunted growth. It is a well- 

 branched kind ; the branches are of horizontal rather than 

 upright growth, and the foliage nicely spread over the whole 

 rather than collected in a tuft, as was the case with a dwarf 

 kind fashionable some years ago, and which, by-the-by, looked 

 badly when wet weather set in, as much of the foliage decayed ; 

 but Little Trot rain seems only to make brighter, and to show 

 it to better advantage. It is certainly an advance on all tbe 

 dwarf Silver-edged Geraniums I have hitherto met with, and 

 for lines of edging, panel work, or any other purpose where a 

 medium dwarf growth is required it will be found to be just 

 what was wanted. 



By those to whom the difficulties of raising seedling Gera- 

 niums seem beyond their means, the way that Mr. Davis 

 accomplishes the object is well worth copying, for with the aid 

 of very little glass he sows the seeds in a slightly-prepared hot- 

 bed in March. He thinks it is not so well to sow sooner, and 



when the plants will bear handling he pricks them out into a 

 nursery bed sheltered and sunny, aud the largest of them are 

 afterwards transplanted upon rather poor ground, when many 

 of them will be found to flower in September. Those which 

 do not and show no signs of bloom have their heads taken off 

 as a cutting, and the old plant left to perish (if it be not an 

 ornamental-foliaged one), and the cutting with other strong 

 ones is retained for another year. Mr. Davia gets many to 

 flower the first year, and by his superior way of managing 

 them asserts that there is no more difiiculty in raising seedling 

 Geraniums than there is in Lettuce, and most of his flowering 

 plants are of his own raising, and possibly his stock may turn 

 out another Little Trot in some other form, for he has plenty 

 of good seedlings, — J. Robson. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



In the notice of the Lindley Med.il which we gave last week, 

 a printer's error occurred, by saying that the portrait of Dr. 

 Lindley was " eiianicUed" with a Laurel wreath instead of 

 " encircled " with a Laurel wreath. 



We regret to hear that Mr. James Smith, late of Extou 



Park, Rutlandshire, is leaving the management of the gardens 

 of Lord Dartmouth at Patshull, Wolverhampton. Mr. Smith 

 had only recently entered on the situation, but he finds it not 

 in accordance with his expectations, and hence he has sent in 

 his resignation. Any nobleman or gentleman wishing the 

 services of a highly experienced gardener of the greatest in- 

 tegrity will find in Mr. Smith such an one as they desire. 



A EE51ARICABLT rapid-growing tree is a variety of the 



Cottonwood (Populus canadensis), and in Messrs. Waterer'8 

 nurseries at Knap Hill it has grown 20 feet iu three years. 



KNEBWORTH PAEK, 



THE SEAT OF LORD LYTTON. 



To every student of English literature the name of the late 

 Lord Lytton is familiar. Few there are who have not read 

 the charming productions of his pen ; and though he has 

 passed away, he has made for himself an enduring name apart 

 from all inherited or bestowed. But though his works have 

 been read by myiiads, yet, except by those who live in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of his ancestral home, those who have 

 seen his residence and its gardens may be counted only by 

 hundreds. He was a man of taste, and hence it might be 

 expected he would by no means neglect his garden ; and though 

 in size and appliances it has no pretension to rival our great 

 establishments, it is, nevertheless, one of the prettiest gardens 

 we know. 



Knebworth Park is three miles from Stevenage station on 

 the Great Northern Railway, and covers about three hundred 

 acres of nearly the highest ground in the county of Herts. In 

 Anglo-Saxon times the manor was part of the vast domains 

 of Eudo Dapifer, but in the time of Henry II. it was in the 

 tenure of one of the De Ous, who probably was an ancestor of 

 Robert de Hoo, who was Lord of the Manor in Edward I.'s 

 time. By marriage it passed into the possession of various 

 families until Sir Thomas Bouohier, iu the seventh year of 

 Henry VII., sold it to Sir Robert Lytton, and it has continued 

 in the possession of Lis descendants. The ancient manor house 

 was pulled down in IHll, and the present mansion erected 

 ou nearly the same site. Of the west or garden front of this, 

 the accompanying engraving {litj. 128), from a photograph by 

 Mr. A. Elsden, of North Crescent, Hertford, is an accurate re- 

 presentation, and owing to the elevation of the site the tower, 

 which forms a prominent feature in the architectural design, 

 commands the view of a wide range of the surrounding 

 country. Extended before it is a flower garden on grass, the 

 beds framed in gravel, plentifully embellished with vases and 

 statuary, and covering altogether about four acres. The 

 design is somewhat complicated, and from its character diffi- 

 cult to plant so as to combine harmony of colour with variety, 

 while the number of plants required, some 3(i,0U0, is large for 

 the means of producing them. The effect, however, as will 

 be seen from fig. 129, also from a photograph taken by Mr. 

 Elsden, is excellent ; and though at the time of our visit the 

 glory of the flower beds had departed, enough of their beauty 

 was left to show what it had been when they were in their 

 pride. The lawn surrounding the beds is beautifully kept, 

 and extends on both sides of the broad central walk to the 

 high Laurel hedges which form the boundary of this garden. 



