THE SIX OF SPADES. 165 



coleus, arnaranthus, and iresine may look unhappy, 

 and even lose some leaves at first ; but if their feet 

 are kept warm in the socks which I have recom- 

 mended, they will soon recover. Beet and perilla 

 require no coddling. 



Who forgets his first interview with Mrs. Pollock 

 how he gazed in fascination upon those lovely tricolor 

 leaves, then worth half-a-crown apiece? The story 

 was told of an enthusiastic florist, that he noticed one 

 morning a sudden and mysterious alteration in the 

 demeanour of his wife. She was cold, sullen, and 

 morose. Insisting upon an explanation, he was 

 reluctantly and tearfully told that he had been mur- 

 muring in his sleep fond praises of " a Mrs. Pollock " ! 

 Mrs. P., Lady Cullum, and Sophie Dumaresque 

 are the best in this section for planting en masse. 



And then the bronzes very striking and effective 

 when properly grown and grouped, and, so far from 

 being injured by our summer storms, smiling upon us 

 more brightly than ever, when they have been 

 "washed, just washed in a shower." I have been 

 very successful with Luna, Mrs. Longfield, and Beauty 

 of Calderdale but I now prefer, with much gratitude 

 to the raisers, Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing, Crown 

 Prince, Imperatrice Eugenie, Lord Eosslyn, and 

 Marquis of Lome. The variegated ivies, too, are 

 extremely pretty, whether as beds or as edgings. Mr. 

 Grieve, of Culford, showed to me, at the Provincial 

 Exhibition of the Eoyal Horticultural Society at 

 Birmingham, a new variety, having a black and gold 

 horse-shoe on a bright green ground, very distinct, 

 and sure to be popular. 



