174 Notes and Gleanings. 



If a sowing be made as soon in spring as the frost will permit, another in 

 June, and a third the last of July, they will afford a constant supply of tender 

 greens, nearly or quite equal to spinach. For this purpose, the rows need be 

 but a foot apart. 



Cjirled Leaf-B3et. — Stalks white; leaves pale yellowish-green, with broad 

 midribs, large nerves, and a blistered surface, like some of the savoys. It may 

 be grown, as a substitute for spinach, in the manner directed for the common 

 or green-leaved variety. 



Red Stock Leaf-Beet. — Leaf-stalks bright purplish-red ; leaves green, blis- 

 tered on the surface ; nerves purplish -red. A beautiful sort, remarkable for the 

 rich and brilliant color of the stems and nerves of the leaves. 



Yellow-stalkea Leaf-Beet. — A variety with bright-yellow leaf-stalks and yel 

 lovvish leaves. The nerves of the leaves are yellow, like the leaf-stalks ; the 

 color is peculiarly rich and clear ; and the stalks are quite attractive, and even 

 ornamental. Quality tender and good. 



Silver-leaf Beet. — Swiss Cliard. — Stalks large; leaves of medium size, 

 erect, with strong, white ribs and veins. The leaf-stalks and nerves are cooked 

 and served like asparagus, and somewhat resemble it in texture and flavor. It 

 is considered the best of the leaf-beets. — F. Bun; Jun. 



Blue-flowered Bedding-Plants. — It is a very common remark amon^. 

 flower-gardeners, both amateur and jDrofessional, that we have only one really 

 good blue-flowered bedding-plant ; namely, Lobelia efinns speclosa, with its 

 varieties. Now, to say the least of it, this assertion is very unfair, as by impli- 

 cation it reflects rather seriously upon the good nanie and character of more 

 than one very respectable blue flower. The lobelia certainly is the most ser- 

 viceable, because the most manageable, of any blue-flowered bedders which we 

 as yet possess, and, for certain situations, could hardly be surpassed by any the 

 most visionary could imagine. In scroll or chain-borders, associated with Ceras- 

 tliim and other low-growing plants, nothing can be better : but I have seer 

 beds eight or ten feet in diameter massed with it entirely, with a view to com- 

 plete some complicated combination of colors which nobody but the designer 

 himself could detect ; and, however well such beds may look from a bird's-eye 

 pomt of view, to ordinary earth-walking mortals like myself they appear de- 

 cidedly weedy. 



Delphinium for>nosiim, while admired by everybody, is but little used as a 

 bedder ; though why this should be the case is not very evident. As regards 

 color, it is in no way inferior to S^'lvla patens j while in form, habit, and storm- 

 enduring capabilities, it is, beyond all doubt, greatly its superior. For mixing in 

 large informal beds, as centres for such, or as a second back row in ribbon- 

 borders, it is very effective : in fact, by a moderate amount of pegging-down, it 

 may be made available for nearly every situation in any design not absolutely 

 arabesque. The sole blot in its character is, that, between the first and second 

 flowering, there intervenes a period of six weeks or two months, according to 

 the season : therefore, to obtain a succession of flower, it is necessary to plant 

 doubly thick, and retard every alternate plant by cutting it back a week or so 



