September 7, 1876. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



213 



of a garden are now within that enclosure exoept Fennel, and 

 this is ia profusion. 



That the Eomans introduced gardening to Britain is certain. 

 I have noticed the traces of the gardens, and if the museums 

 of Kent and elsewhere are examined implements such as we 

 still employ are to be found amongst the archaeological stores 

 of the Boman period. If reference is made to the writings of 

 Cato, Varro, and Columella confirmatory information may be 

 thence gleaned ; and it is recorded that Lucullus introduced 

 the Cherry into Italy and in a few years into Britain. This 

 must have been into Kent, and the county is still noted for 

 this fruit. 



Of the monastic establishments, illustrative of what their 

 occupants effected for gardening, the nearest here is St. Bha- 

 degund's Abbey, having the addition of Bradsole or Broad 

 Pool, from the large mere in its vicinity. It was within little 

 more than half a century surrounded by woods, but the wood- 

 man's axe has swept very many of them away, and no pro- 

 prietor has planted for bis posterity : the Irish gentleman's 

 reason has prevailed, " Posterity never did anything for me." 

 Of this Abbey and of the walls of its barn, paradise, and orchard 

 there are considerable remains, and for the most part covered 

 with Ivy. It is one of the places where the wild Columbine, 

 Aquilegia vulgaris, is found. 



Boses are grown in this vicinity more generally and in 

 greater abundance than in most country districts. At the 

 flower show here on the 29th of August were prizes for Boses 

 in twenty-four and twelve distinct varieties, and the collections 

 exhibited were good in number and quality. At that Show I 

 was asked for a list of the flowers and plants adopted by various 

 oountries as their national emblems, but the list I could give 

 was very limited — England's Bose, Scotland's Thistle, Wales' 

 Leek, Ireland's Shamrock, and France's Lily were all that I 

 could remember. Of family badges I quoted the white Bose of 

 the Yorkists, the red Bose of the Lancastrians, and the Broom 

 (Planta-genista) of the Pantagenets. Can some reader add to 

 the number, and send them for publication ? North America 

 has not hitherto adopted a national flower, but in the following 

 extract from one of the New York Journals one is suggested : — 



" In our broad land, with its many climates, we cannot have 

 a flower common to all parts. But there is one fair blossom 

 twined in the affections of almost every American, and its 

 fragrance, so delicately subtile, comes with the memory of it. 

 It was the first gentle welcome the pilgrims received from an 

 unknown climate, and — 



' God bo praised I ' the pilgrims said, 



Who saw the blossoms peer 

 Above the brown leaves dry and dead, 



' Behold our Mayflower here 1 ' 



" Then if we have no national flower, why cannot we all 

 unite in so christening our loved Mayflower or trailing Arbutus ? 

 Whittier exalts it to that honour when he writes : 



' O sacred flower of faith and hope I 



As sweetly now and then 

 To bloom on many a birchen slope, 

 In many a pine dark glen." 



" The pilgrims came and blessed the granite shores of New 

 England with their faith. They crossed that threshold to ' our 

 country,' and over stony paths and bloody battle fields un- 

 furled the flag which in its purity and beauty has waved for a 

 hundred years. Now, in our days of ease, prosperity, and 

 happiness, 



' Be ours the love that overruns 

 Its rocky strength with flowers,' 



and let us plant in the shadow of every star-spangled banner 

 the emblematic blossom, with its pale tints and lingering 

 sweetness, and know it by its homely name — the Mayflower." 



One of my first excursions here was to Walmer Castle. Its 

 flower gardens are most brilliantly crowded. I say gardens, be- 

 cause the moat is decorated in a style distinct from that of the 

 garden proper. The latter is most richly furnished, so that I 

 oan say without reservation that in no garden is there massed 

 throughout such a variety of the brightest-coloured flowers. 

 The centre walk has a ribbon border on each side composed of 

 broad lines of Cerastium, blue Lobelia, scarlet Geranium, and 

 Bachelor's Buttons — the white flowers of the latter detract 

 from the gradation of colour, which would be rnpre effective if 

 the white was superseded by a dark-leaved Coleus. Having 

 seen the Willow overshadowing Napoleon's tomb in St. Helena, 

 I hoped to see its offspring which for many years grew here 

 upon the lawn. I was disappointed, for Lady Granville has 

 had it destroyed. Her ladyship has superior taste in flower 

 gardening, but appears not to have a reverence for trees, for 



not only has the historic Willow but many patriarchal Beeches 

 have fallen by her order to render the garden views more at- 

 tractive. The destruction of timber trees is a thoughtless 

 and injurious act, and more suggestive of consequences than 

 the waste of coals. If Sweden and Norway do not plant as 

 well as fell, their Pine foreBts must in time cease from yielding 

 the hundreds of thousands of deals which I see daily unload- 

 ing here. Why are they called " deals ?" Was it because Deal 

 was the usual place of importation ? They could not have 

 imparted the name to the place, for Deal is a contraction of 

 the Anglo-Saxon for " a low seashore place." 



An American journal states that " in 1870 the amount of sawed 

 lumber consumed in the United States was 12,755,543,000 feet, 

 with at least 50 per cent, of its aggregate value of shingles, 

 staves, and box material. If this consumption goes on in the 

 same ratio, as it is reasonable to infer must be the case, it is 

 somewhat startling to conjecture how the next generation is to 

 be supplied. We are assured, however, that there are still 

 left 225,000,000,000 feet in the ligneous regions, to which may 

 be added some 25 billion feet in the non-ligneous districts, 

 while we must also bear in mind that forests are constantly 

 growing. Notwithstanding the enormous destruction of hard 

 timber for furniture-making, there is still left a belt standing 

 from Central Pennsylvania to near the Gulf of Mexico of one 

 unbroken forest of furniture timber, besides the fields of 

 Indiana and southern Illinois, south-eastern Missouri, and 

 one-fourth of the State of Arkansas. There also remains in 

 timber over 40 per cent, of all New England, over 50 of New 

 York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, from which but a moderate 

 share of that adapted to furniture making has as yet been 

 cut. And even our north-western Pine fields are not without 

 a goodly share of furniture timber interspersed. This, how- 

 ever, does not exonerate us from taking good care of our timber 

 lands, and doing all in our power to help them to increase 

 and multiply." 



The Napoleon Willow is not the only vegetable notoriety I 

 have missed, for my search has not been successful for the 

 Samphire rendered notorious by Shakespere. Neither on the 

 cliffs nor on the shore beneath them have I found a plant of 

 the Crithmum maritimum, but nowhere have I seen a greater 

 abundance of the parent of all our Cabbageworts, the Brassica 

 oleracea. 



In driving to WalderBhare, another notoriety of the vicinity, 

 the road leading to Archer's Court is pasBed. The house is of 

 respectable appearance, built of brick, but of no greater age 

 than that of the Stuarts. It has, however, a history, part of 

 which is that the manor tenure is that the tenant shall hold 

 the king's head when he is seasick. This must have been 

 arranged at the time when the king's only sea voyage was from 

 Dover to Calais. Waldershare Park is the seat of the Earl 

 of Guildford, and during the American War, Lord North often 

 resorted hither and sought to recover equanimity after endur- 

 ing the lashings of " Junius." The house is a fine old brick 

 mansion, and the park is studded more thickly with noble 

 Beech, Sweet Chestnut, and Oak trees than any other I can 

 call to mind. I should have liked to have seen the gardens, 

 but the head gardener, Mr. Merryfield, was absent. The man- 

 sion, from a design by Inigo Jones, was built in 1700, whilst 

 the estate belonged to the Furnese family. — G. 



ERYNGIUM MARITIMUM. 

 At first sight the Sea Holly is to look at one of the most 

 curious as well as one of the most interesting plants in cul- 

 tivation. No plant, native or otherwise, calls forth so much 

 wonder as the Thistle-like Eryngium maritimum, which is 

 found wild in many places of our sea-girt isle. It, as well as 

 all the family, are adapted for the decoration of ruinous places. 

 The plants like a rocky or sandy medium for their develop- 

 ment. They are not over-particular as to soil or situation. 

 They thrive in partial shade or full exposure to the sun. They 

 may be raised from seed or be increased by division, which is 

 best done in spring when growth has commenced. When once 

 established they continue healthy for a long time. The Eryn- 

 giums are grand objects for large borders. As we are now 

 moving in the direction of hardy herbaceous plants, perhaps 

 the subjects in hand may receive a share of attention that has 

 hitherto been denied them. A group of them in the centre 

 of a large bed is very attractive. All the family are of varied 

 shades of blue. I am inclined to think that Eryngium mari- 

 timum is one of the most attractive of the race, having a 

 silvery white appearance, affording a fine contrast to its beau- 



