230 



JOURNAL OF HOETIOtn/TtTEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[March 34,1868. 



Vebbekab — Lord, Leigh, raised by Messrs. S. Perkins & Sons, 

 Pari Nursery, Coventry ; crimson scarlet, yellow eye. Awarded 

 a first-class certificate by the Floral Committee. Lord Craven, 

 produced by Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing, of Sydenham and 

 Edinburgh. " Decidedly the finest of purples." — (Florist and 

 Nomologist, ii., 25.) 



Cheeky — Belle Agathe, raised by Capt. Thiery, of Haelen, 

 Belgium. Of the Bigarreau character, but skin more red, flesh 

 hard and crackling. Birds do not touch the fruit. Tree hardy 

 and abundant bearer, ripening its fruit about the middle of 

 September. — (Hid., p. 32.) 



NEW BOOK. 



THE PHANTOM BOUQUET : 

 A Popular Treatise on the Art of Skeletonising Leaves and 



Seed-vessels, Sfc. By E. Parish, &c, Philadelphia. 



This is well-named, for the embellishments are very beautiful 

 and very disembodied, whilst the literary portion is equally 

 phantom-like. There is nothing whatever new in it. The 

 directions for skeletonising are merely the old one, requiring 

 weeks and months for effecting the putrefaction of the pulp of 

 the leaves under water. How old the process is may be learned 

 from this extract. 



" Some of the old London books we have lately forgotten to 

 read give accounts of the identical process, and tell us that, as 

 long ago as 1645, Marcus Aurelius Severinus, Professor of 

 Anatomy and Surgery at Naples, turned his attention to the 

 subject, and published a figure of a leaf thus delicately prepared. 

 But this ingenious disciple of JEseulapius, according to the 

 fashion of his time, kept the process a secret ; and so we owe, 

 probably, the first published account of the method of preparing 

 plant-skeletons to a Dutch naturalist, Predrick Ruysch by name, 

 who in 1723 first gave to the world the announcement that, 

 through the putrefactive fermentation promoted by warmth 

 and moisture, the pulpy matter of the leaf may be loosened, so 

 as to be separated from the fibrous skeleton, which may thus be 

 preserved unimpaired." 



We believe that a much shorter time might suffice to effect 

 the skeletonising, and the process to attain this is worth trying 

 to discover, for the results are beautiful, and, as Mr. Parish 

 remarks, " adapted to embellish a home of taste." 



arrived at was, that in his opinion one of them " was some sort 

 of Geranium." He, however, politely asked me to leave the 

 flowers, and he would endeavour to get them named for me by 

 some old gardener ; but I fear the race of our good old " blue 

 aprons " must be wearing out, as I have not heard from him 

 since. I would, therefore, feel much obliged were you, or any 

 contributor, to recommend any plain cheap old work on the 

 subject, or otherwise kindly advise — Town-bbed. 



NAMING HEKBACEOUS PLANTS. 



The return of the early spring flowers reminds me of one of 

 my gardening difficulties, which the Editors may kindly assist 

 me in elucidating. I came into possession of an old place in the 

 country a few years back, and amongst the many traces of the 

 cultivated taste of my predecessor, not the least prized is the 

 store of nice herbaceous plants which adorn the flower-borders 

 of our small garden for the greater part of the year. 



Having neither spice, time, nor inclination to go into the 

 modern bedding-out system, I would like to take stock, with 

 the view of adding to my collection such noteworthy specimens 

 as I might see from time to time noticed in your pages or other- 

 wise ; but the evil is that I am ignorant of the names, scientific 

 as well as vulgar, of very many of those I possess. This I was 

 forcibly reminded of not long ago, by ordering a lot and finding, 

 as many came into flower, their duplicates already in the borders. 



I thought I had hit upon an expedient last summer that 

 would have thrown light upon my darkness. The principal 

 foreman in the nursery from whence I occasionally procured a 

 few florists' flowers, was a most intelligent, obliging fellow, 

 thoroughly versed in horticulture, from his aristocratic titled 

 favourites down to the little "Hyssop that springeth out of the 

 wall," I assumed, judging from the discrimination he displayed, 

 opening my eyes to the unseen distinctions between the " addi- 

 tional substance," "cleanness of club," "breadth of belt," 

 " brightness of eye," &c, of this Pansy or that, or other florists' 

 flower, second only to the style of your gifted Deal contributor. 

 It was, therefore, with much confidence that I one day went off to 

 town with a small bouquet as a first instalment, which I Bpread 

 out on a frame-light before him, and stood note-book in hand ready 

 to begin my list. Judge of my disappointment, taking up one 

 after the other, with that curious puzzled look one could imagine 

 in a geologist examining an antediluvian fossil, the only result 



EEATHEEED HELPS IN A GAEDEN. 



I AM obliged by your insertion of my inquiry upon this sub- 

 ject, which shows that you deem the matter not unworthy of 

 some attention ; and I feel encouraged to put my own ideas into 

 some more definite shape, more especially as I ha7e since had an 

 opportunity of asking the opinions of practical men on the 

 TJndercliff, from which place I am now writing. You will deal 

 with my further remarks as you see fit. 



I am afraid that no definite views are entertained by gardeners 

 upon either branch of the question — either the domestication of 

 birds for useful purposes in a garden, or the proper treatment of 

 the race of small birds generally as wild. Upon the first point 

 one gardener approves of gulls ; another prefers the sandpiper, 

 but that is, I believe, a migratory bird, and an attempt to keep it 

 continually is, therefore, forced and unnatural ; another likes the 

 owl, as not only destroying mice, but anything else that can be 

 picked up, and especially as working at night. Some think 

 ducks would be useful upon special occasions and at special 

 times. None like bantams, even Sebrights ; and the habits of 

 Guinea fowls, as nou-scratchers, do not seem to have been 

 noticed. Of course nobody ever dreamt that poultry in general 

 could be " helps," as our Bristol friend assumes in his chapter 

 of grievances. This, therefore, seems an open question ; but 

 upon the use of gulls I may mention that I have just seen a 

 pair in a garden, and am assured by a medical friend, their 

 owner, that, in addition to an unremitting attention to all vermin, 

 one of them is as good as a watch-dog; for if an intruder finds 

 his way into the garden at night, the bird screams, as long as he 

 remains, loud enough to wake all the neighbourhood. But this 

 part of the subject must depend upon local circumstances ; for 

 such birds may well be kept in small and enclosed gardens, 

 when there would be difficulty in doing it in larger establish- 

 ments. The principal question, therefore, is the proper treat- 

 ment of the feathered tribe in general, and the views generally 

 expressed by your correspondents show that it is a serious one. 

 The views I have heard expressed are certainly in favour of 

 birds, especially the soft-bills, as doing infinitely more good than 

 harm, although requiring strict watching at particular times. 



I rather think a true philosophy puints to a protection of the 

 race, accompanied by a complete control of their habits, in 

 matters upon which our reason should guide their instinct. Do 

 they not rank with the other inferior creatures which God has 

 given for our help ? Are they not all the year working for our 

 benefit? Has the farmer or the gardener any cheaper labour 

 than theirs ? and is not the labourer worthy of his hire, in their 

 case as well as in all ethers ? We give our domestic animals 

 extra food sometimes ; we give our labourers extra wages at 

 haytime and harvest ; and why should not somewhat of the 

 principle be extended to our birds ? Are they not entitled to 

 the food necessary for them ? True, in the main they find it by 

 living upon our insects ; but if their want of intelligence leads 

 them to be mischievous at seed-time and in a blossoming season, 

 is not that a defect which our intellect should lead us to control 

 rather than to visit the mistake with destruction? And, if when 

 fruits are abundant they take their share, what more is it than 

 pursuing the analogies of life ? and what more is it than their 

 right, always taking care they do not, in their want of know- 

 ledge of the properties of things, take too large or too wasteful 

 a share ? Surely it would be a great misfoitune if the race were 

 destroyed; and that is the logical sequence of the arguments 

 against them. The race may be properly kept down like that 

 of any other of the inferior animal creation when necessary, but 

 that would be better done by a judicious bat-folding, when the 

 hard-bills could be selected for puddings, and the soft-bills sent 

 back to their work, rather than by a wholesale and indiscriminate 

 slaughter. 



I was yesterday walking through the grounds of a gentleman 

 whose position in the scientific world entitles any opinion of his 

 to profound respect, and who is, besides, an accomplished horti- 



