JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 6, 1863. 



Judgment went, and the sanio remark applies to the subject of 

 the present paper. 



" It never rains but it pours ;" and so now, because some 

 person has written well and forcibly on the present style of 

 gardening, deprecating the extravagant lengths to which it has 

 been carried, others hare followed in the wake, telling us that 

 we must give it up altogether, and that it should only be reserved 

 for public establishments. Now, although I have been one of 

 those who have written most strongly against the outrageous 

 lengths to which beds and ribbons have been carried, yet I 

 think this is just as bad as the other extreme. What we want 

 is a combination of both ; and for those who, like myself, con- 

 sider that one great advantage in a garden is to be able to 

 gather a bouquet at any time for one's friends, it is a positive 

 boon to have beds of scarlet Geraniums, Verbenas, and such 

 like, always affording a supply, and always brilliant in their 

 colouring. 



The multiplicity of Borts is apt to puzzle and perplex an 

 inquirer after such as may be most suited for his purpose; and 

 notwithstanding that every year witnesses an accession of a 

 considerable number, yet those which permanently remain in 

 the more select lists are, comparatively speaking, few in number. 

 New tints of colour are, of course, not to be easily found, and 

 in habit we cannot get much beyond the kinds we have. It 

 must be something, then, of superior excellence that should be 

 marked for permanence in our gardens. Thus, although superiors 

 to Tom Thumb, Attraction, and Punch have been over and 

 over again announced, I think they are still unsurpassed ; and 

 although better variegated ones than Bijou have been as often 

 promised to us, I do not think that there is one superior to 

 it in its own peculiar shade of colour. It is somewhat large in 

 its style of growth, but this can be obviated by pinching-baek ; 

 but if we could oblain what I have not yet seen — the same 

 good foliage and large flowers on a more compact style of growth, 

 it would be very desirable. 



Having these notions on the subject, I am prepared before- 

 hand to receive with much caution the high-sounding characters 

 •we so often have with new kinds, and to wait for that time 

 which proveth all things before putting off the old love. " Too 

 fastidious," some would say ; but surely it is better that a few 

 things should be known to be good than a multitude of inferior 

 ones passed off on us to fill up gardens and create only dis- 

 appointment. The first season that a flower is to be let out 

 there are many, who will and must have everything new, who 

 do not care whether it be bad or good ; but for the more general 

 public greater caution must be exercised. I begin, then, with 

 a section which seems only to be in the hands of Messrs. E. G. 

 Henderson & Co. — I mean the very beautiful Tricolor Golden- 

 zoned varieties, and of which we have now some very beautiful 

 examples. I have also included Silver Tricolor kinds. 



Section I. — tricolor golden and silyeb-leaved vaeieties. 



Mrs. Pollock. — Although not of the last season, yet its pre- 

 vious high price made it comparatively unknown. It is very 

 beautiful ; fine habit ; the zone bright red, with occasional deep 

 crimson blotches, retaining its colouring in all weathers. 



Sunset. — A flower very similar to the above, perhaps a little 

 brighter, but certainly not so good in habit ; still it may be 

 safely recommended. A bed of these varieties will, iu a fine 

 Bummer be a very handsome sight. 



Countess. — One of the Silver Tricolor varieties. My expe- 

 rience of these for some years induces me to believe that they 

 will never make effective out-of-door plants ; but for pots they 

 are very attractive, and this is one of the best. 



Section II. — yaeiegated -leaved yaeieties. 



Gold Leaf (E. G. Henderson & Co).— This style of leaf does 

 not please me, and in my garden it was very delicate. 



Mrs. Milford (E. G. Henderson & Co.).— I would give the 

 same character to this. I do not admire them. 



Queen of Queens (Bull). — A free-growing and free-flowering 

 variety. The flowers are large, and the silver margin is very 

 clear and distinct. 



Cheerfulness (Turner).— Foliage green with white margin. 

 Elowers red and well-shaped. 



Section III. — horseshoe geraniums yvith flowers oe 



salmon and scaelet of vaeious shades. 

 Baron Measoli (E. G. Henderson & Co.). — A very neat 

 dwarf-growing variety iu the style of Baron Hugel, but with 



much better flowers ; the zone in the leaves being dark and 

 well defined. 



Herald of Spring (Turner). — A very pleasing and effective 

 variety ; the leaves marked with a broad deep-coloured zone ; 

 the flowers large and freely produced. Very early as a pot 

 plant, quite justifying its name. Has received three first-class 

 certificates. * 



Woodwardiana. — (E. G.Henderson & Co.). — As like the pre- 

 ceding as two peas, but not so free-flowering. 



Gem of Gems (Bull). — I grew a plant of this which would 

 have filled a bushel basket, and it had one truss of bloom on it, 

 and this in the same bed where the other varieties were ; so 

 that it was no excess of manure that led it to do this. 



Section IV. — eink and hose yaeieties. 



Prince of Hesse (Turner). — Bale salmon pink ; flowers well- 

 arranged in a large even truss ; the habit moderate. Suited 

 for pot culture rather than for the open border — a remark which 

 I believe to be applicable to all those in this section. 



Some other flowers, such as the Nosegay section — Magenta, 

 &c, I have not seen. Those which I have remarked upon here 

 as good will, I believe, not disappoint any who may purchase 

 them. It will thus be seen that no addition, as far as I have 

 seen, worth mentioning, has been made to the plain scarlet- 

 flowering varieties represented by Tom Thumb and Attraction, 

 the more fancy colours and sections being mainly run upon. 

 Nosegays I can see no beauty in, though Mr. Beaton will think 

 me a heretic for so doing. 



Will you allow me to correct a misprint in my paper on Chry- 

 santhemums ? Eor " he has this year eighty large ones," read 

 thirty ; and for, in the last paragraph " in my first section," 

 read "his first section." — D., Deal. 



EPACEIS CULTURE. 



In answer to " Y. Z.," I would say that if there is no men- 

 tion of this group in the three last volumes, there is plenty of 

 writing respecting them in earlier volumes. It would not serve 

 our correspondent to refer him to these articles, so I will tell 

 him how to manage the nice selection of young plants he has 

 obtained, now coming into flower, and which he is anxious to 

 increase in size as soon as possible. 



One great advantage of cultivating Epacrises in mixed collec- 

 tions is, that they will stand rougher treatment than Ericas, 

 and without showing any signs of mildew, which is almost sure 

 to attack Ericas in Buch circumstances. Another advantage is, 

 that most of them will bloom, or may be made to bloom in the 

 winter and early spring months. Another peculiarity is, that 

 as they bloom best on somewhat long, well-ripened shoots of 

 the previous summer, like the Black Currant, the plants are 

 generally most attractive when rather young, instead of very old 

 and bushy. 



In Propagating the Epacris, I would prefer as times the end 

 of February and the end of May. In the first case I would 

 select firmish side Bhoots, and the points of long flowering- 

 shoots, from 1J to 2 inches in length, rather firm at the 

 base, clean cut through there. In the Becond case we could 

 thin-out young shoots after pruning, about an inch long, slip- 

 ping them off with a sharp knife close to the older shoot. In 

 both cases remove the leaves for about a quarter of an inch next 

 to the base, and insert in silver sand in well-drained pots, as 

 described the other week for Aphelexis, and carefully cover 

 with a bell-glass. As extremes of temperature and of dryness 

 and moisture are to be avoided, it will be found of great advan- 

 tage to have a glass case inside of a propagating-house, beneath 

 which the propagating-glasses with their pots and cuttings may 

 at first be set, and then, in three weeks, plunged in a mild 

 bottom heat. When struck, four plants may be potted round 

 the sides of a four-inch pot. The next spring each of these 

 plants may have a three-inch pot, and the season following a 

 four or five-inch pot. I presume that it is such plants that our 

 correspondent has obtained ; and in general it is by far the most 

 economical to purchase such plants from nurserymen who make 

 propagating a principal feature in their trade. 



The beBt Soil for Epaoris is good heath mould lightened 

 with silver sand. Eor small plants in the smallest pots, the 

 soil should be rather fine. As the pots and the plants get 

 larger the soil should be rougher, so that for a seven or eight- 

 inch pot there may be many pieces as large as fair-sized marbles, 



