THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



[August 18, 185 



o 



sum 



avail- 



^^^^T^It £* ^ainUiniag the | pidMM where science M l» o» 



ahle, the .rami «™t per acn mm botanical recre ation the real ohject. G. B. 



^^SS^t^X^T^^ — tS-l^-^J^naamii 



Kw«- s™" d >> ,-S.fc " 



nual 



SSsVper ^e7=are=of hethe^a and 



^ P pnhouS Where the means are very limited 

 greenhouses, u „ h hothouses, must be 



&£^ them > but by shut ; 



the botanical borders must then be restricted within 

 S narrowest limits, the mere J^igta 

 faeinc the cheapest to maintain. As the available re 

 »i?cesicomf more ample the botanical ground may 

 be Sdually expanded till it is capable of wgugR 

 as full a collection as can be procured of ^active 

 species that will bear the climate provided the 

 SKmental ground will bear being so far encroached 

 Ton If, however, additional space is obtained 

 wUh the increased funds, the arboretum may also 

 be enlarged, even to a greater extent than the 

 botanic garden. But it is the plant-house ^cultiva- 

 tion that must always derive the greatest benefit 

 from the improved condition of the funds. The 

 limits to which this department may be carried will 

 indeed depend solely on the pecuniary means, for in 

 no garden that I know of are the houses at present 

 too large to contain the collections that might be 

 usefully maintained in them with ample funds. 



The extent of the reserve and propagation ground 

 will be fixed in the first instance by the require- 

 ments of the scientific and ornamental departments 

 which they are destined to supply j but they must 

 also, in a botanical garden, contain more or less 

 extra space for raising and 

 testing new importations, 

 for carrying on physiological 

 experiments, or for the tem- 

 porary cultivation of plants 

 for any other scientific pur- 

 pose, under the eye of the 

 director or curator without 

 the interference of the 

 public. The exact propor- 

 tion of ground to be devoted 

 to these extra purposes will 

 be limited either by the 

 space available without de- 

 triment to the more im- 



divisions of the 



port ant 



garden, or by the demand 

 of the director or curator 

 who may have time, incli- 

 nation, or capacity to avail 

 himself of it. 



Opinions are much divi- 

 ded as to the propriety of 



keeping the botanical and 



ornamental gardens distinct, 



the plants in the * 



being ranged in 



straight borders ; or 



blending them together by 



grouping the herbaceous 



collection in irregular beds. 



The former practice is the 



most prevalent on the con- 

 tinent, the latter generally 



finds more favour with us. 



I must confess that the 



separation appears best to 



answer the purposes of 



science and instruction. It 



is more easy so to arrange 



and label the plants that the 



principles of the system 



adopted may be taken in 



at a glance; it facilitates 



access to the individual 



specimens without tramp- 

 ling on the borders and disturbing the plants, and the 



peculiar kind of care and cultivation they require is 



given at less trouble and cost. On the other hand, 



where we devote to each natural order an irregularly 

 shaped bed, larger or smaller according to the 

 number of species we expect to have, and scatter 

 these beds over a lawn in a kind of irregular flower- 

 garden, it is a very difficult thing so to arrange them 

 as to produce a whole agreeable to the eye. Sup- 

 posing even this to be in some measure accomplished 

 by a tasteful designer, availing himself of any irre- 

 gularities of the ground or other local aids, still it 

 is impossible to make the beds themselves orna- 

 mental if they are only to contain botanical speci- 

 mens. At least half the species will have a weedy 

 look, and there will always be gaps and empty 

 spaces which we cannot fill up with showy flowers 

 or extra plants for mere ornament, without destroy- 

 ing in a great measure the value of the collection 

 for study or instruction. 



Few circumstances excite the surprise of observers 

 more than the production of one flower by the inte- 

 rior of another. And yet there is no preternatural 

 phenomenon more easily explained when the true 

 nature of a flower is understood. That curious 

 apparatus, with its panoply of brilliant colours, its 

 transparency, its fragrance, and the important 

 special duties confided to it by nature is, in the eyes 

 of science, merely a collection of leaves in a trans- 

 formed condition, and is itself but a branch stunted 



in its growth. 



The truth of this theory is proved by the follow- 

 ing circumstances more especially : I. That every 

 part of the apparatus of a flower, however unlike a 

 leaf, will occasionally, in the presence of disturbing 

 influences, become a mere leaf ; 2, that that pecu- 

 liar property of forming a bud, or rudimentary 

 branch, in the axil, which is an especial attribute 



are 



ure was given the other day at p. 516 

 1 all these instances the secrets of 'floral strode 

 revealed by accident to the eye of intelU^ 

 Nor have artists failed to profit by them &* 

 see in the carvings and scroll work of the scoW 

 and the architect. Even the curious fact tl-^* 

 flower will grow out of another has been 

 upon by them for the purpose of decorating* 

 points of separation of branches, and ,,b 



•> 



th : 



Hi 





to the examples 



ormer 

 formal 

 of 



manner which, however conventional, is perf 

 consistent with the true forms of Nature. 



Nowhere, however, has the tendency of 

 flower to give birth to another been shown m 

 more unexpected manner than in the caseioj 

 illustrated. In the aquarium at Syon House it ** 

 observed a few weeks ago that the beautiful W^ 

 Lily called Nt/mphcea Devoniensis had predated 

 a flower from the midst of which rose anotier Iilf 

 like itself, hanging gracefully at the end oluri* 

 stalk. 



When flowers thus become proliferous it \&uB? 

 happens that the whole central system lengthens. a 

 is shown in the Rose already alluded to, 

 metamorphosed branch merely reverting to 

 original condition and lengthening by the 

 always represented by the centre of the flow. 

 But in this instance the mode was changed, « 

 the new flower with its stalk proceeded direct; 

 the axil or base of one of the stamens, as is 



^. _ F — A* 



rather magnified. The Nymphaea therefore Mm 



2d of the four classes mei A 

 at the commencement of this 

 article, and it is by far the Bus- 

 striking instance of the kind 



on record. 



But the disturbance of iS* 

 natural condition of this Wafc- 

 lily was by no means cwfiad 

 to the production of a umi 

 flower. On the contrary, it ex- 

 tended to the innermost up* 

 and forced the very stigmas I 

 grow up into small green taw 

 folded up, as they always I 

 in the young bud. Two 

 stances of the kind are show: 



fig. A. 



This monstrosity, for an* 



ster it is, serves to iltattji 

 very important truth *■ 

 those who are engaged in i» 

 of decorative art should n*» 



Any amount « 



lose sight of. _, , 

 departure from the to 

 of plant-objects is allor. 



a conventional mode rf £ 

 mutation, provided »t^ 



tare is consistent wrtk ^ 

 by which is regulated to« 

 lo p me nt ot the gg + 

 represented. I&ese * 



.atute the ***£? 



which every 



ii- 



ou 



„,. s l,t to »nJ.r.t»a lta«g 



-a *• CM t - l £w ■ • 



very- 



how it may be .„ 

 direction which *« £ 



little expected. .* ^ 

 may be made to g 

 flowers, with perfect J* 



"hen (he ff^t* 



it ; although i»\ \ , 





mand 



ciples 



of vege 





an 



of a leaf, also belongs to the parts of which a flower 

 consists ; 3, that the floral organs stand in the same 

 relation to each other as the ordinary leaves upon 

 an ordinary stunted branch, such, for instance, as 

 the rosette of a Houseleek (Sempervivum) ; and 4, 

 that a flower will occasionally grow into a branch 

 leaving its petals at the base. 



The first case is illustrated by the green-flowered 

 Primroses, proliferous Plantains, and those Poten- 

 tillas whose flowers become in hot weather tufts, 

 or rosettes, of leaves. The second by little branches 

 shooting up from among the parts of the flower, as 

 in the Pear tree, which will occasionally form two 

 or three little Pears in its inside, each of which is 

 traceable to the axil of some one or other of the 



floral 



We announce with much 



parts, and by the common occurrence of a 

 brood of little Roses starting up from among the 

 petals of a common liose. The third may be seen 

 — -™ ^v.^ . by any one who compares the rosette of the House- 

 ,...-,, . -.- S^h a moulding of ; leek with a double Camellia, a double Ranunculus, 



botanical borders into the landscape-gardener's form j or a double Anemone. Of the fourth we " 



dthn'f offending^ J 



eye by the production of *** 

 irreconcilable with trutn^nj- . 



reg*t the JS * 

 we announce - •-- ~~ p j. whose i"- 



Mrs. Lawuenck, of F{f ^ P ^ d with the 

 lone been honourably assoc ftr mar 



of modern gardening ; ana ^ rel . 



stood almost without a mal ^ 

 exhibitions ^ Chiswick. J J h ^ 

 suddenly at midnigMonJhe^^ 



0F * ^^^:$$$ 



ge d structure »* 



The cut flowers 



have 



( N ;."8 of the plan), • yJJ £ Q^£&4 

 under the thick shade j*wj ^ aloDg tfc £ ** 



narrow 



with"* Yon* double J '^^d *?££>* 



tables and _gU- «£ c r hiefly of ££ 



pt 



in. »u F rv - t j. ere hs» 

 Amongst them tuer 



These flowers have «*»'■»■•■ kept op >- 

 an abundant supply has been ^ ^ 



for *• "Z 



months. 



