January 13, 1876 ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



31 



be. N. frutesoens, too, is an acquisition that ought not to be 

 passed by ; it is of much taller growth than the preceding, of 

 good habit, and may be turned to good account where border 

 flowers are cared for. It ought to be in all collections. 

 N. Veitchii is a very desirable plant, of dwarf habit, and is 

 well adapted for a place in very choico selections of rock 

 plants. But I claim the palm for N. rivularis, which is quite 

 hardy. In my estimation this is one of the choicest hardy 

 herbaceous plants that we possess. When well estabUshed in 

 a nice moist situation on a rockery or border, its beautiful 

 flowers cannot fail to be admired. This species is of recent 

 introduction, and is worthy of being included in all collections 

 of border flowers. It may be increased by division, cuttings, 

 and seed. 



Sandy loam and peat with well-decomposed vegetable matter 

 well mixed together will grow all the Nierembergias well. — 

 Vebitas. 



EUPHOKBIA OFFICINAEDM. 



We have been appealed to to give the specific name of a 

 ' prickly fleshy Cactus." The plant is not a Cactus at all, but 



l/'Ig, 10. — Euphorbia ofllcinarum. • 



the mistake of our correspondent is pardonable, for the re- 

 semblance of this Euphorbia to a Cactus is sufficient to mis- 

 lead the ordinary observer. We have only to glance at the 



species now figured and the well-known and popular stove 

 plant Euphorbia jacquinifoflora (fulgeus) to appreciate the 

 extreme dissimilarity of the different members of this great 

 family — so great as to number upwards of 2500 species. The 

 example figured is a stove plant, and was introduced from 

 Africa nearly three centuries ago, but it will grow well in 

 vineries if the plant is kept dry during the winter and has the 

 soil and treatment usually afiorded to Cactuses. It is only iu 

 old gardens that plants are found, and where they have been 

 permitted to exist as " belonging to the place ;" but now 

 curious succulent plants are more cared for than they have 

 been during recent years, and are again thought worthy of 

 cultural attention. 



The Euphorbias possess great medicinal properties, and, 

 according to Endhcher, Euphorbia officinaium is the plant 

 that King Juba discovered in Barbary, and named after hia 

 physician, who was brother to Musa. It is a native of Africa, 

 Arabia, and India, and is one of those Cactus-looking species, 

 without leaves, with erect, thick, fleshy stem and branches, 

 having the appearance of candelabra; each branch is ter- 

 minated by a red flower, and is covered with knobs, from 

 which issue sharp spines. This is the species supposed to 

 yield euphorbium, although E. canariensis and E. antiquorum 

 have also been given as its sources. This is obtained by 

 making incisions in the plant, from which flows an abundance 

 of acrid milky juice that concretes on exposure to the air. 

 Bruce states that he met with it in Abyssinia, where it is 

 called Kolquall, and says that when the branches become old 

 and withered, instead of milk they contain a powder so acrid 

 and piquant that it causes sneezing by merely shaking them ; 

 this powder is euphorbium. 



OLD TEEES. 



Mistakes, when faithfully chronicled, afford great instructioii. 

 It is not too much to say that by remembering n>y own errors 

 and observing the errors of others that I have derived more 

 substantial information than has been afforded by successes. 

 Failures, with the loss and inconvenience resulting therefrom) 

 are more firmly impressed on the memory than are successes, 

 for an accident or a narrow escape from serious injury is re- 

 membered for a lifetime. There are few, especially gardeners, 

 who in a long period of practice have not committed many 

 and serious mistakes, and which now stand out as danger 

 signals. 



A man who can boast that he never made a mistake is not 

 likely to have made many experiments, or to have risen above 

 the degree of mediocrity. Yet how seldom we see mistakes 

 acknowledged, as if the admission of them was derogatory to 

 a man's dignity, forgetting that by ignoring them the most 

 valuable of life's lessons are lost, and that by admitting them 

 a manly act is done and a great service rendered to those who 

 are ever liable to similar errors. 



Our genial mentor, '' Wiltshire Rector," has inhis " greet- 

 ings" grappled with the subject of fruits, and has assailed 

 my conservatism of " old trees." The rector speaks of the 

 trees as moss-covered, scrubby, cankered, ugly, &c. , and desires 

 their removal and replacement by pyramids in poor men's 

 gardens. Our friend's remarks are theoretically sound, and 

 are prompted by the best motives ; but I can bring some hard 

 practice to bear on the matter which "Wiltshire Rector" 

 has not experienced. In order to do this I am tempted to fall 

 into the autobiographical groove. 



I was born under a poor man's roof, and can well remember 

 when a family of nine had to subsist on the " breadwinner's " 

 earnings of 10s. a-week. Before the cottage grew two old 

 Apple trees gaunt, scraggy, and ugly, but— they paid the 

 rent. In due time I became a gardener, and at the mature 

 age of twenty-two was promoted from foreman in " my lord's " 

 garden to chief in the " squire's." Of course I knew a great 

 deal (more than I do now), and my father was persuaded to 

 let me "improve" his garden by uprootmg one of the old 

 monarohs, grafting the other, and planting as compensation a 

 dozen pyramids in (of course, as I was young then) as many 

 different sorts. I further stipulated to pay the rent until the 

 young trees came "into profit." Sequel.— I had to pay that 

 rent for ten years, or just £10. Had the young trees been all 

 of one sort, as Lord Suflield, Beauty of Kent, Dumelow's Seed- 

 Img, Cox's Orange Pippin, or any other free-bearing kind, I 

 should, no doubt, have saved fully £20; but the sorts coming 

 in one after the other— a dozen of this and a peck of that, 

 brought no useful and substantial return to compensate for 



