360 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 19, 1863. 



60-sized pots, are planted-out . in the usual way where the Teas 

 have performed their office, and by this means I hare a muoh 

 earlier crop than I should have done out of doors. The Beans 

 will not be too much shaded, but bear well. Having disposed 

 of them, my next proceeding is to introduce Melons in the 

 common Boil of the house, and as long as the sun shines with 

 sufficient force I gather sweet Melons. I have seen them in the 

 fields in Italy, and conceived that with the atmospheric heat of 

 our vineries the soil would be equally warm ; and I have suc- 

 ceeded without any other stimulus. Cucumbers grow too fast. 

 I have introduced Mushroom spawn, but obtained few, and I 

 may say I have failed there, and I do not know how it was. I 

 will add, I have succeeded with Eigs and Oranges in pots, as 

 they both love a little shade. — John Stovbld, Stedham Mall, 

 near. 



WHAT FLOWERS THINE OF IT. 



A DIALOGUE BETWEEN ME. HOLLYHOCK AND MISS EOSE. 



Hollyhock. — Well, Rose, do tell me what is going on over 

 there. Since Mr. Cuttings banished me from the border I can 

 see and hear nothing. Summer's coming, though, and then you 

 know eight feet o'ertops the fence by two— unless, oh ! horror of 

 horrors ! that man decapitates me for exhibition ! 



Rose. — Well, stately old friend, I wonder not at your annoy- 

 ance once the glory of the flower garden, and now in durance 

 vile beneath this gawky fence; but we all have our troubles. 

 There was a time in which I was held in higher repute before 

 these bold spindle-shanked hybrids were all the rage, sticking 

 their gaudy tops above the heads of the dear children. Well, 

 there's a grand display on the parterre, as they call it, a geome- 

 trical digging (copied from the panels of the hall-door, so a bird 

 told me), filled with — what do you think ? 



Hollyhock. — Perhaps Roses, and Hydrangeas, and Lilies, 

 Agapanthus, Carnations, Pinks, Dianthus, Primroses, Wall- 

 flowers, and Tansies. 



BosB. — Oh, no ! you speak of times gone by, when the 

 borders were always new, from Christmas Rose to Chrysanthe- 

 mums — right out of Winter's Bnow to Autumn's golden leaf — 

 " a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." 



Hollyhock. — Well, what ? Do tell me, Rose. 



JJose. — Prepare yourself for the worst, my dear old friend. 

 Each bed is filled with the same sort of flower, all huddled so 

 thick together that not a bit of the rich black mould can be seen, 

 and the plants so crowd each other that all form and contour 

 are lost. 



Hollyhock. — But what, friend Rose, do they plant in this 

 way ? Only mean things whose foliage in colour and form is a 

 disgrace to them. 



Rose. — Well, no. Scarlet Geraniums for one thing — great 

 blazing patches of blood-red, whose fiery hues lend a double 

 fervency to the dog days, and then ere the second frost are a 

 black putrid mass. 



Hollyhock. — Why, what does the squire think ? 



Rose, — Oh ! I think he's sickening of the new-fangled notions. 

 The houses crammed full of "bedding stuff," aB they call it, 

 half the year ; and the trouble and fuss of coddling the precious 

 cuttings from September to May. 



Hollyhock. — Well, I thought that was the squire's opinion. 

 Last summer he came this way frequently, and he did me the 

 honour once to say that I am " a grand old flower still." Of 

 course, I made him my stateliest bow. But what of the lady? 

 Does she take as much delight in it? 



Rose. — Oh, no, who'd go walking among a lot of nursery- 

 beds, between long rows of Tom Thumbs, and weedy Verbenas, 

 and Calceolarias? Why, it would be thought madness. The 

 parterre is not meant for close inspection, 'tis to be seen only 

 from particular points — the drawing-room windows or the 

 corner of the terraces, for instance. No, they don't go nearer 

 or the design is lost ! It's a great showy advertisement, a sham,, 

 a monstrous violation of common sense, and as such must be in 

 direct opposition to good taste. Who cares to linger and stoop 

 over great patches of scarlet, and yellow, and blue — scarlet, 

 yellow, and blue ad nauseam ? 



Hollyhock. — Hurrah ! but this is not only pandering to the- 

 rage for display, this sensation gardening, but it is. bringing dis- 

 g»ace and ruin upon the gentle craft. Gardeners may talk of 

 skill in arranging colours, and be mysterious about harmonies 

 and management of bedding stuff, or twaddle about edgings, 



and ribbons, and pincushions, and "beds to match;" but the 

 public are getting tired of the thing, and will comeback ere long, 

 I think, to aBk our help. What think youyRose? 



Rose. — Well, friend, you're warm somewhat. The flowers I 

 see are brilliant in colour and some of elegant form, 'tis true, 

 though tender things, and not well fitted for our climate ; but 

 'tis the planting that 's mainly wrong— this system of massing, 

 as they call it. 



Hollyhock. — Yes, yes j but they 're mean dwarf thingB gene- 

 rally, and cannot stand our climate. Why, the beds are bare 

 ;above six months in the year ! 



Rose. — Yes ; but you forget the brilliant idea of clinkers and 

 broken glass, and many-coloured stones ! 



Hollyhock. — At which our squire is gravelled. 



Rose. — And nevergreens. But who cares for the parterre? 

 Why, all our squire's family ruBh along this way. How eagerly 

 they run to Will Hay lock's cottage garden, and beg a bunch of 

 Wallflowers, Cloves, and HoneyBUckles, and now and then a 

 sprig of his crimson China. 



Hollyhock. — Which Mr. Cuttings pooh-poohs, no doubt. 

 Well, well, this is but the opposite extreme. I once had the 

 honour of being staged at Sydenham, and was heartily ashamed 

 of myself, leaning for Bupport like a drunken soldier. The idea 

 of a Hollyhock's head stuck in a potful of sand to be gazed at 

 and admired was only on a par with the barbarous custom of 

 clipping and shaving trees. But what was still worse, a petti- 

 fogging fellow came with small bone tweezers, and pulled out a 

 leaf here and there, and exchanged another until you would 

 scarcely have known me. Elorists, you know, have laid down 

 rules for our growth, and have actually drawn figures of what 

 we ought to be ! Hush ! here are the squire and all the family 

 this way again ; how soon they tire of their parterre ! Mr. 

 Cuttings has it all to himself. 



Rose. — Yes, old friend, they'll Boon replace us, if I mistake 

 not. Hush ! let 's hear what they say. — T. W., Marrow. 



LARGE CAMELLIAS AND ORANGE TEEE8. 



It may interest some of your readers to know that the finest 

 collection ot Orange trees, and of large Camellias in Europe, is 

 to be sold this week, and so large is it, that the sale will pro- 

 bably continue until Saturday. They are the property of 

 M. Henri Courtois, who is giving up his business, in the Rue de 

 la Muette, near Pere-la-Chaise. The Camellias are gome of 

 them sixty years old, and are mostly planted out in a large 

 greenhouse, and look in vigorous health. The sorts, of course, 

 are old. The Orange trees are some of them very fine, and are 

 all in tubs. Their selling prioe now varying from 200f. (£8) 

 a-pieoe down to 30f., and although the dust of Paris has 

 not improved them, yet they are in fine health, and I have no 

 doubt with more care would soon make noble trees. The con- 

 stant increase of Paris, and the demolitions consequent upon it, 

 are by degrees driving the nurserymen away. We believe one— 

 the main reason — for the collection being parted with, is the 

 injury that is done to plants by the rapidly increasing buildings 

 round them. — D., Deal. 



GRAFTING THE WILD OLIVE ON THE OLIVE. 



Repebexng to Romans xi. 17, the wild Olive tree being grafted 

 in and partaking of " the root and fatness of the Olive tree," or 

 parent stock, I have heard it stated that in this respect the 

 Olive differs from plants we usually graft ; but cannot find any 

 allusion to the alleged peculiarity. Can you give any informa- 

 tion on the Bubject ? — S. D. Gokf, Soretown Souse. 



[The words of St. Paul as rendered in our translation Are, 

 "Some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being ,a wild 

 Olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them par- 

 takeBt of the root and fatness of the Olive tree." This is ex- 

 iplained two ways, either of which seems satisfactory. Schleusner, 

 quoting from older writers, renders agraielaios, the Greek ori- 

 ginal, " unfruitful Olive tree," instead of " wild Olive tree," and 

 then it is like many other unproductive fruit trees which are 

 brought into bearing by grafting soions from them on other 

 iBtocks. 



The other explanation is that agraielaios is the Oleaster 

 or Maagnus; and Schulz, in "Paulus's Collection of Travels," 

 states that branches of it are grafted into Olive trees that are 

 barren though cultivated, in order that fruitfulmess may be pro- 



