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JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEJE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ January 3, 186S. 



times the povJtry part. That reminds me of a true story. 

 A mamma and her young' daughter sat down to play a duet 

 at a party. They did not keep good time. A horsey young 

 lady was present, who also had a correct ear for music ; she 

 •was heard in a subdued tone to say to herself, " Ah ! now 

 the old mare's fii'st — no, now the filly's first — ten to one on 

 the filly — no. five to one — no, well done, they ai'e both in 

 level after all — capital, a dead heat." So of our Journal : a 

 capital year, dead heat at the end. 



On looking back thi-ough the past year, let me say a word 

 about the ladies who have figured in our pages, made a 

 better figure of themselves with their steel pens than their 

 steel hoops, if I may be judge. First, thanks, personal 

 thanks, to " Filix-f<emina." Never more wUl I say that 

 I do not love Ferns, alleging that form without colour is 

 unsatisfactory. " Filix-fcejiina " has taught me better ; 

 whenever she writes she makes me a " Felix-mas." Oh, 

 the pretty, graceful, fernlike sentences dancing like fronds 

 in breeze and sunshine. She gives us an example how to 

 make practical matters pleasing, giving details, bat which 

 cannot be called dry. Then her descriptions, too ! One 

 only fault she has — she makes me throw down the pen, 

 dispirited, almost hopeless. 



Nor have ladies alone excelled the gentlemen with quills, 

 but with feathers too. 'Witness Lady Holmesdale and Miss 

 Emily Beldon. I am no exhibitor, but could I be a Lady 

 Holmesdale or an Emily Beldon all at once I would be. As 

 a stalwart young Irishman, begging of me, said in reply to 

 my question, " 'Why don't you enlist, a fine young fellow 

 like you?" "So I would, if they'd make me a jineral at 

 once, your riverence." And I would be an exhibitor if I 

 could be a Lady Holmesdale or an Emily Beldon at once. 

 But, ladies, you make me despau-. You have won your 

 laurels, ladies, may you wear them long, adding each year 

 fresh ones to yoiu' present fall ehaplets. 



Looking back, and true to my character as chaplain (I 

 was duly appointed by our co-archbishops at 171, Fleet 

 Street) — looking back through the Numbers of the present 

 year, I must say that any little disputes have been carried 

 on in a nice spirit ; no hard words, sneers, or iuuendos. My 

 flock, I am proud of you. Sometimes I have seen in peri- 

 odicals of former days disputes carried on in an acrimonious 

 spirit, which have reminded me of an old stoiy, the last it 

 must be, of the days of my youth. An old doctor, long since 

 dead, Lad a man servant named Solomon, wise in all things 

 sa.ve where the beer was concerned. The doctor was at 

 home alone, so he deemed, one Sunday afternoon. Presently 

 he heai d a singular noise as of a muffled voice and a running 

 of some liquid. He traced the sound to the cellar, where he 

 found foolish Solomon on his back, under a tap, quite di-unk, 

 with the beer still running on his face, and he solemply 

 saying, " No more, thank you sir; quite enough, thank you 

 sir." Now, so should I say if a controversy became too 

 lengfthened, but I have not had to say so this year ; but I 

 should have said, " No more thank you," had there been a 

 good reason, for my motto is, " Peace and good wUl to aU," 

 and among all. 



And now, lastly> dear readers. Have we not done you 

 good this last year ? Gardeners in your cottages, for you 

 shall be first addressed, as right you should, have you not 

 looked forward to the day you receive our Journal ? Have 

 you not one foot, perhaps, rocking the cradle — 



*' Where alone with God the baby liea." 



or nursing the said bJiby, a thing never to bo ashamed of, 

 for a baby ia the best nursery plant I know — and you think 

 so too — have you not read bits aloud to your wife, man, the 

 good creature loving gardening for your sake, and you 

 helping her with the little ones of an evening as you should, 

 allowing her to ply her needle unencumbered for your 

 benefit y Have you not had many a treat from our pages, 

 taken, perhaps, a garden-plnn, for which you had bright 

 looks and praise, from your lady employers especially ? 



And you, younger ones, younger and more aspiring, have 

 you not by studying our pages been fitting yourselves for 

 higher potiilions ? Be stendi', good fellows, work on, read 

 on, and — Now you wo'n't mind the hint, will you ? — " Do as 

 little as posn'Mu on a Sunday." 



Country ^.-entlemen, ladies, clergymen, amateurs all of you, 

 not forgetting that nice boy who keeps fancy pigeons and 



rabbits, and got a prize at ■ Show, — I hope you have all 



felt drawn towards us this year, and that you welcome our 

 Journal as a friend. "We all need a hobby, it makes life 

 going again to us. A man with a hobby has 



" A young lamb's heart amid the full-grown flocks." 

 It drives away care and balances the mind ; and what hobby 

 is half so charming as flowers and birds ? Good wishes to you 

 aU — a happy new year to you. I wish I could shake hands 

 wilh you all ; to " velveted hands," and horny hands too, I 

 could give an equally warm grasp. But it cannot be — it 

 cannot. I know you not by sight, I vrish I did ; so with my 

 pen I must say farewell. — "Wiltshire Keotoe. 



FLO"WERS OF THE PAiST SEASON. 



BEDDING PELAEGONIUMS. 



PoE a dry season such as we have had during the past 

 summer, what can for a moment compare with the various 

 sorts of Zonale or bedding Geraniums ? 'While Verbenas 

 mildewed and died off. Calceolarias would not grow, and 

 Petunias were lanky and poor, the Scarlet Geranium as it ia 

 still called (although now to be had in white, pink, ciimson, 

 and other colours), kept its groimd, and, if not growing 

 quite so vigorously as in ordinary seasons, certainly bloomed 

 as well. It is no wonder, then, that the caterers for public 

 taste should endeavoui' to meet the increasing demand by 

 increasing attention to their hybridisation ; and hence it is 

 that we may truly say the name of them now is legion. 

 But there are some mistakes made on this point which I 

 would remind our friends of. It is not enough that a new 

 variety have a larger or more brilliant flower than others 

 in the same class, if it have not a habit correspondingly 

 good. I have flowered some remarkably fine-looking sorts 

 this season ; but then their habit was so gross, and the 

 trusses so sparingly produced, thai they were utterly value- 

 less. Again : where there is no peculiar marking to make a 

 distinction between sorts, a flower may be very good, but 

 so strikingly simOar to others already in cultivation as to 

 puzzle any one to decide as to the ditference. Thus, I have 

 had several this year so like Herald of Spring, that although 

 individually good, they are not worthy of being retained 

 where the older, cheaper, and equally good variety is to be 

 had. Nor let it be forgotten that some sorts, although of 

 very little use for the parteiTe, are very valuable for the 

 greenhouse ; and gi-owers would do well, I think, ia an- 

 nouncing their novelties, to say for which they are suitable. 

 There are many which are equally good for both purposes, 

 whOe some are only fit for one. It is utterly impossible that 

 even in the most extensive gai-dens all these varieties can 

 be grown, and therefore a weeding process must be adopted. 

 No flower is, perhaps, more widely cultivated than this — 

 in the wilds of dear and stormy Donegal, and in the brilliant 

 masterpieces of gardening at Linton or Shrubland, it is alike 

 cherished. Let us not lose anything of our enjoyment by 

 being distracted by the crowd of new faces, when we have 

 many times to say the old ai'e better. 



VARIED ATED-FOLIAGED VABIETIES. 



Several of these have come under my notice this season, 

 but in the beautiful section where Mrs. Pollock has reigned 

 supreme I have not seen as yet any that surpass that exqui- 

 site variety ; and I think that whatever slight difference of 

 marking there may be in some of those I have seen, such as 

 Mrs. Benyon, yet for habit and other qualities combined 

 Mrs. Pollock still stands unrivalled. In the Tricolor Silver 

 A'^ariegated varieties a good and beautiful addition has been 

 made in Italia Unita, sent out by Messrs. E. G. Henderson 

 and Son. This class make excellent pot plants, but, unlike 

 the Golden Variegated, they do not prosper well out of 

 doors. 



WHITE-FLOWERED VARIETIES. 



'Wo all recollect what a tenible warfare (on paper) tTiere 

 was about the new varieties of white-flowered Pelai-goniums 

 that were to come out last spring ; " a vei-y pretty quarrel " 

 indeed, but one that might have been very well spared. 

 My own opinion of them all may be illustrated by the reply 



made to me by a well-known grower. " 'Well, Mi-. , 



what do you think of tliesonew white Geraniums ?" "Think ! 

 why, that I could execute any amount of orders for them 



