338 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 12, 1868. 



As I have mentioned Verbenas, it may be as well to say a 

 few words on the many candidates for public favour appearing 

 this spring from various parte, and this notwithstanding that it 

 was said that we were not to see so many novelties as usual 

 this year. Erom north, south, east, and west they come. Suf- 

 i folk, Norfolk, Dorsetshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Sussex, all send 

 their quota ; and this not single examples, but whole collections, 

 many of which are unknown as yet beyond the limits of the 

 place where they were raised. At present, then, we must only 

 take the raisers' description, and he must be a very calm and un- 

 prejudiced man who can take a just view of his own children, can 

 see their defects, and moderately praise their excellencies. We 

 muBt wait for time to prove whether their descriptions are over- 

 drawn or not. Amongst the lot let out by Messrs. Low & Son, 

 and raised by Mr. Miller, of Upway (the raiser of Foxhunter), 

 there will be found, if I mistake not, some flowers of real merit. 

 Ruby and Rosalie are novel in their colour, besides being large, 

 and of a good habit of growth. Purple Emperor, too, when I saw 

 it, looked well, and was the best of a large number of the same 

 shade of colour, all the others having been discarded. 



Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son advertise several very desirable 

 sorts, amongst which is White Lady, stated to be far superior to 

 Mrs. Holford, more free in flowering, and much purer in colour. 

 This will be a most decided acquisition. They also announce 

 other bedding varieties. The distinction between bedding and 

 exhibition sorts ought always to be kept in view. A bedding 

 variety ought to be short-jointed in its habit, and free in flower- 

 ing, and should be entirely of one colour. If straggling the 

 result is, that the centre of the plant is bare, and the extremities 

 only furnished with bloom— a very ugly thing in a bed ; and 

 when there is a large yellow or white eye it detracts from that 

 uniformity of tint which is absolutely necessary for effect. Of 

 course, where a flower is to be cut and placed in a stand the 

 case is entirely altered, although we think that a mixture of the 

 one-coloured varieties with the auricula-looking sorts is even 

 there desirable. 



Mr. Charles Turner lets out this year some of Mr. Perry's 

 seedlings of the same strain as his former fine exhibition varieties. 

 A new white, too, he announces to us under the title of Grand 

 Boule de Neige, from the west of England. This, too, is de- 

 clared to be very fine, There is also another White Lady from 

 Mr. Knight, of Battle, said to be very good. Of Lord Leigh sent 

 out by Messrs. Perkins & Co., of Coventry, it is unnecessary to 

 speak. They have exhibited it at the spring shows in consider- 

 able quantity, so that many of the flower-loving public have had 

 a good opportunity of seeing it. It is of the Foxhunter style of 

 flower, and very fine. Downie & Co.'s Lord Craven, promises 

 to be a good bedding variety, as it is said to be of the style of 

 Purple King, larger and fuller, and lighter in colour. I saw 

 but one truss of it last season. Of the other collections I know 

 nothing; but of this there can be no question, that if they are 

 really as meritorious as the raisers consider them to be, we shall 

 hear something more of them by-and-by. From the Continent, 

 too, several are announced, but we have learned to be very 

 cautious in our admiration of the importations from France and 

 Germany. They see things with such a roseate hue, that it is 

 oftentimes hard to think their opinion of what is superle, 

 magnifique, charmante, &c, agrees with what we think to be 

 good; and few really good Verbenas have come to us from 

 thence during the last two or three years. 



There is every encouragement to raisers of seedlings to cry 

 "Forward." We want many colours for bedding purposes— blues, 

 Whites, pinks, &c, and I hope that we shall this year Bee much 

 progress. There is so widespread a love for flowers now that a 

 really good thing is sure to be successful, and there is Buch op- 

 portunity of judgiog of the various productions, that no power 

 exists now of pooh-poohing what is really valuable. — D., Deal. 



LADY GAEDENEES. 



I noticed in your Number of April 28th the remarks of Mr. 

 Bass, of Burton-on-Trent, upon the subject of orchard-houses^ 

 Like a good kind husband, he gives his wife the whole credit of 

 his succeeB in growing fruit trees in pots. And let me observe, 

 how often do we see lady gardeners excel in the cultivation and 

 arrangement of flowers when they give it their attention. 



Some of your readers, no doubt, have visited Richmond duriDg 

 the summer months, and may, perhaps, have noticed a good- 

 sized brick house on the other side the river. Now, this house 



is occupied by Mr. Justice Halliburton — the " Sam Slick " of 

 literary notoriety. 



I paid a visit to these gardens about two years since on the 

 occasion of a fancy fair given for some charitable purpose, and 

 never do I remember to have seen bedding done so well, or so 

 choice a collection of plants brought together in a place of so 

 limited an extent. I was given to understand by a florist of 

 some celebrity, who was present, that the arrangement of the 

 beds and collecting the plants were in the hands of the lady 

 occupier herself. 



Their taste for the harmonising of colours I consider natural 

 in all women of refined education, only unfortunately most of 

 them display their taste in decorating themselves more than in 

 ornamenting their gardens. 



But if ladies were to follow gardening more usually than they 

 are apt to do, how much oftener we should see the cheek re- 

 semble the Rose in place of the Lily ; and how soon, also, we 

 should perceive the lighter tints made use of in decorating the 

 inside of the bonnets. They would soon be aware that glaring 

 colouring was not suited to their complexions so well as the 

 more subdued shades. 



Moreover, God has given us health that we may enjoy the 

 blessings He sends, and depend upon it, that where a lady 

 gardener resides it is there the physician's carriage seldom stops. 

 —A Fbiehd to Flobiculttjbe. 



A CHAPTEE ON HERBS. 



We are told that a garden of herbs was what the Israelitish 

 king of old intended to have made of his neighbour's vineyard 

 which he coveted ; though whether he eventually turned it into 

 that purpose after he had so unscrupulously obtained possession 

 we are not informed, neither are we told the description of herbs 

 in use at that early time. There is, nevertheless, reaBon to 

 believe that the list was far from being a meagre one, as it is 

 probable some plants disregarded by us were in favour at that 

 time, and even the term " herb " is not fully understood at the 

 present day ; for I remember not long ago, that the Judges at a hor- 

 ticultural show (myself being one of them) , were called in question 

 for awarding a prize for the best collection of herbs to one in 

 which there waB a bunch of Rosemary. A cottager called us to 

 order, insisting that the collection in question ought to have 

 been disqualified, Rosemary being more a shrub than an herb. 

 Without, however, entering upon this knotty point, I will take 

 the liberty of including such plants as this in our present 

 category of herbs, which, in fact, iB understood to comprehend 

 most plants more or less scented, and used in some culinary way, 

 or in some other manner which renders it advisable to cultivate 

 them, more or leBS extensively, as they may happen to be wanted. 

 It will not, however, be necessary to go into the details of every 

 individual plant, but it will be sufficient to arrange them in 

 groups, so that the treatment of one may in a ;«-eat measure 

 suffice for others in its class. 



Annuae Heebs. — Basil, Sweet Marjoram, Summer Savory, 

 Chervil, Borage, and others, are in ordinary use, and all more 

 or less ripen seed and require resowing year after year. The 

 first three are better sown in a pan or slight hotbed, and 

 afterwards planted out in May. Chervil, being less delicate, is 

 seldom treated to Buch indulgence; and Borage frequently 

 ripens its seeds and sows itself in much the Bame hardy manner 

 that Mignonette does in other places. This is also a nearer 

 approach to a perennial, or, at least, a biennial, and in some 

 districts is rather a favourite with those having bees. Its use 

 dates back a very long time, and, after experiencing a long period 

 of neglect, is likely to become fashionable again. 



There are several other plants in more or leas repute that 

 might be added to this class, as Caraway, Purslane, Coriander, 

 Marigold, Ice Plant, and it may be Nasturtium, and even 

 Tomatoes ; but these lost-named plantB deserve to be noticed 

 in a separate article : therefore, I will pass on to another and 

 much more important section of garden herbs, which is both 

 numerous, and some of them highly useful. 



Pebemiai Heebs.— Of this claBs we have several which a 

 botanist would not willingly call herbs, as some of them contain 

 hard woody matter, which does not die down in winter, as 

 HyBsop, Sage, Winter Savory, Lavender, as well as Rosemary, 

 previously mentioned. All these may be classed as evergreen 

 shrubs of low growth. But it is not the purpose here to raise 

 that question; they are all regarded as herbs, and form important 



