54 REMINISCENCES ON GARDENS, FLOWERS, &C. 



In a former number we noticed The Wonder Tulip. The follow- 

 ing are additional particulars of this superb flower, by Captain Brown, 

 in a communication to Mr. Wood : — 



" Allow me to thank you for the notice of my Tulip, called by my 

 Jersey friends ' The Wonder,' and as a beautiful and perfect flower 

 deserving- its name. You have compared it to Fanny Kemble [This 

 was figured in our first volume of the Cabinet. — Conductor], and 

 really I ought to feel flattered ; for that flower, with two oflPsets only, 

 was purchased by the late Mr. Davy, of Chelsea, at the high price of 

 100/. He never lived to see the bloom, and at his death it was sold 

 by auction to Mr. Goldliam for 72/. \0s., and yet I have the hardihood 

 to say that AVonder is a better flower, superior in all its properties. 

 The cup and marking of Wonder is more like Thalia, though of a 

 difl^erent colour. Its form is very good, and the white dazzling and 

 pure, with feather and star of the deepest puce, the nearest approach 

 to black I ever saw in a Tulip. Added to this, it is constant, a great 

 blessing to florists who covet a fine bloom every season. It was broken 

 from a seedling of the late Mr. Clark's, but such as scarcely had exist- 

 ence, and certainly had not flowered, at the time when Fanny was sold 

 to Mr. Davy. It has never been offered for sale, but is in the hands of 

 a few friends to whom I have given it. Yourself, Mr. Lightbody, 

 Mr. Dobree, Mr. Dixon of INIanchesteiy, and ]\Ir. Hardy of Warrington, 

 are the only possessors of this flower that I am acquainted with ; 

 except, indeed, some garden thieves who plundered my bed last year. 

 The stock remaining is very limited, seven or eight roots, including 

 offsets, and a few breeders, are all I possess. Had it been in the hands 

 of a London florist like Mr. Groom, it would have been a mine of 

 Avealth — a very Golconda or California — but as it is, I leave it to my 

 nortliern friends to view and value it agreeably to their judgment. It 

 stands alone, upon its own merits, of which tlie great Manchester show, 

 next year, will be a fair test, as it will probably have to contend there 

 with the choicest and best of all England." 



EEMINISCENCES ON GARDENS, FLOWERS, &c. 



BY EISCEMABA. 



Contributions to the Floricultural Cabinet being requested, I 

 am induced to pen a few reminiscences of some gardens I visited last 

 year, thinking that an allusion to a variety of plants may amuse and 

 be useful to some of the readers of that very useful publication, while 

 sitting by their Avinter fire-sides. 



Leaving with regret my own scarlet Rhododendrons, Azaleas, &c., 

 in full bloom, after staying in London, I visited a gentleman's garden 

 at Wisbeach, and saw an incipient stem growing out of a hardy Yucca, 

 supposed to be the superba, which during the summer attained the 

 height of about seven feet, and was very beautiful, with its base of 

 abundant and luxuriant leaves, forming a striking ornament to the 

 lawn. A Yucca aloifolia in the same garden, the year before, attained 

 with its flowering sten the elevation of fifteen feet. It has survived 



