104 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICTJLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Angnat 10, 1871. 



's neater and cleaner. A large house 116 by 30 which we are 

 now building for him will be thus glazed. The fillet of the 

 rafters should be painted twice after the roof is glazed, and the 

 brush run a quarter of an inch on the glass. — W. Eiyeti. 



MR. SHEPPARD'S NURSERY, BEDFORD. 



Haying an hour or more to spare before the opening of the 

 Horticultural Show, and having previously apprised Mr. Shep- 

 pard of our intentions, we — that is, Mr. Cadger and myself — 

 had the place all to ourselves, and had a very pleasant walk 

 round this neatly-kept, well-arranged nursery. 



Amongst the things that first struck our attention on enter- 

 ing were some nice beds of Alpines and Stonecrops, now, 

 happily, coming into fashion, arranged chiefly in rows, with a 

 good-sized plant named at the end of each row. Among the 

 newer subjects, as Echeveria secunda glauca and metallica, Sem- 

 pervivum californicum, &c., were a fine lot of Stonecrops, in- 

 cluding Sedum variegatum roseum, a fine variegated Semper- 

 Tivum, and some neat little plants of Aubrietia purpurea varie- 

 gata, with small, dense, white shoots and small leaves, just the 

 . plant for those who delight in the dwarf in floral display, and 

 admirably fitted to come in as a hardy companion to the Alter- 

 nantheras in small scrolls and edgings. Of itself this is a 

 neat compact plant a few inches in height, but in contrast with 

 such plants as Alternantheras it would be invaluable. Were I 

 doing small scrollwork I should multiply it by hundreds. 



Here, too, if I mistake not, I found what I have not lately 

 seen, a lot of neat little plants of the Plumbago LarpentjE, 

 named after Lady Larpent, and introduced from China about 

 1845. As far as I recollect Mr. Donald Beaton helped in his 

 enthusiasm to bring this plant into rather too prominent 

 notice as a bedding plant, which the fugaeeous character of its 

 thin petals and the lateness of its blooming did not warrant. 

 Still the colour is a beautiful light blue, the habit of the 

 plant good, and on a mound or a wild rockery it looks very 

 pretty in the autumn. I had it in such a position for many 

 years, but in recent changes I fear it has gone along with other 

 good old plants. Mr. Knight, the predecessor of the Messrs. 

 5Peiteh at Chelsea, had the stock and brought it out, and meant 

 to make a little fortune by it, as, so far as I recollect, the 

 first small plants were three half-guineas each. I was never 

 deceived myself, for on visiting the nursery at the end of 

 July Mr. Knight turned the key of the private house where 

 the rarest plants were kept, and said, " There, Mr. Pish, what 

 do you think of that ? A beautiful healthy young stock." 

 And so it was, a whole houseful of Plumbago Larpent^ ; but 

 what of the bloom ? for hardly a single bloom was to be seen. 

 And I added, " If the plant do not bloom freely out of doors 

 before this time you will get yourself into trouble after such a 

 sounding of trumpets." Mr. Knight was himself deceived ; but, 

 as a characteristic of the man, I believe he offered to all pur- 

 chasers in other plants the value paid, such as Azaleas, Camel- 

 lias, bulbs, &o. As the plants were not in bloom I may even 

 now be mistaken as to its identity, but if true it is well worthy 

 of a place on a knoll in the rockwork or select shrubbery. 



Passing groups of Cjtisus, Coronilla, Crassula, &c., in their 

 summer quarters, and a fine group of hardy Ferna in pots in a 

 shaded corner — among which Athyrium Filix-fcemina eristatum 

 and Lastrea Filix-mas criatata preponderated — I must notice 

 two dwarf yellow-flowering plants, of which there were a con- 

 siderable quantity in pots and beds, anything but new, as they 

 have been in the country for the best part of a century, but 

 both would be useful for dwarf beds, especially to those who 

 say they are forced to give up the yellow Calceolarias and sub- 

 stitute in their place yellow-leaved plants, as Tricolor Gera- 

 niums—very beautiful it is true, but still to my eye not filling 

 up the place of yellow flowers. The first of these plants is 

 Linum flavum, rarely growing more than from 6 to 9 inchea 

 in height, and producing its bright yellow flowers in great 

 abundance. This plant is hardy in light well-drained soils, 

 but in damp places it is well worthy of a little protection in 

 winter, as a dry frame or a dry place iu an orchard house. It 

 is freely propagated by seeds and cuttings. It is very suitable 

 for a dwarf yellow bed or dwarf edgings, and in a low regular 

 figure would come in well with the low crimson and purple 

 Alternantheras. The second is a low but strong-growing her- 

 baceous plant, growing from a foot to 15 inches in height, but 

 may bo kept lower by trailing and pegging down. It is the 

 CEnothera maerocarpa, bearing in great abundance its large 

 bright orange flowers. Hardly anything will produce such a 

 mass of dwarf colouring, and yet this fine old plant ia getting 



to be comparatively neglected. It is not often that the seeds 

 ripen perfectly, owing, I presume, to our not being able to give 

 it the bright sunlight it enjoys in North America, but the 

 plant is easily propagated by division just as growth commences 

 in spring ; still the best mode of propagating it is to slip off 

 the young shoots in spring when from 2 to 3 inches long, and 

 insert them in sandy soil under a hand-glass or other covering. 

 A good white companion with large flowers, and the plant quite 

 as dwarf, may be obtained in CEnothera taraxacifolia (or Dan- 

 delion-leaved), the foliage being cut and lobed. 



There was one thing in which I was disappointed, and I 

 deserved to be so, as I might have known I could not at this- 

 season of the year see what I expected. On my visit last year 

 the houses were crammed with small bedding plants, &c. 

 These were on shelves, tier above tier, and many on back walls., 

 supported on moveable irons merely set in sockets, all the 

 shelves and irons being removed when not wanted, so as to 

 afiord room to taUer plants in summer. I thought I could do- 

 much in the way of makeshifts and cramming, but I felt I was 

 far behind Mr. Sheppard, and wanted to see more of it, but, of 

 course, these shelves were all gone, to come back again in winter^ 



Notwithstanding the lai'ge bed at the Show previously re- 

 ferred to, thera were still a good many bedding plants to come 

 and go upon, and there were planted out groups of the best- 

 Tricolor Geraniums and the best scarlets, including Vesuvius^ 

 a bright scarlet, which I will increase, and a good quantity of 

 a dwarf, full-petalled, zonal-leaved, dark scarlet, called Glow. 

 I have measured some of ours in a small bed, and find that 

 from the surface of the bed to the top of the flowers is just 

 8 inches. I can safely recommend this beautiful variety for 

 small beds or low edgings. 



Amongst the combinations of grouping flowering plants — a 

 very good thing close to a house, as affording hints to the pos- 

 sessors of the smallest gardens as to the most efiective modess 

 of arranging them — I was most pleased with a long parallelo- 

 gram bed, as far as I recollect about 25 feet in length and 5 or 

 6 feet in width. This bed was formed into a sort of chain in 

 the centre, the links formed of Perilla, and the longer pieces of- 

 three ovals. It was filled with Tricolor Geraniums ; Louisa 

 Smith at one end. Sunset at the other, and Italia Unita in the 

 centre. All round the Periila, kept dwarf, and the Tricolors^ 

 was a row of Golden Pyrethrum. The intermediate spaces 

 were closely filled with Lobelia Erinus compacta and Alter- 

 nantheras alternately, whilst the edging all round was planted 

 thickly with Echeveria glauca. There was just one departure 

 from strict symmetry, and this was at one corner ; instead of 

 the Lobelia there was the Leptotiphon roseus, a pretty little- 

 annual for miniature flower beds. Such an arrangement waa 

 more artistic and telling than planting in mere mixture or Ie. 

 lines, and could be diversified at will by circles, triangles, &c. 



In walking round I noticed fine flowering plants of the 

 feathery Sumach (Rhus Cotinus), Spirfea aritefolia, the old 

 Spirjea frutex with its upright mass of flowers, good quarters 

 of fine young plants of Wellingtonia gigantea, Cupressus, &c.^ 

 but I must be content, iu addition to neatness, with noticing 

 two or three of the specialities of the nursery. By the sides 

 of the principal walks there are stiff specimens of the best 

 Cypresses, Pinuses, and evergreens, with room enough for every 

 plant to grow freely without encroaching on its neighbour, and 

 looking as if they were often lifted and replanted. The same 

 rule seemed to be likewise carried out, not only as respects- 

 fruiting trees, &c., but to be extended to the commoner forest 

 trees, even Spruce trees in general having room to develope 

 themselves without crowding. Of course such plants could 

 not be sold at the same money as those the same in height but 

 drawn up thickly in lines. For all particular, and even general 

 purposes, the plants that had room in the nursery, if fairly 

 taken up, would prove to be the cheapest bargain in the end — 

 a simple fact that many planters are slow to learn. Lastly^ 

 every piece of ground unoccupied by nursery stock was care- 

 fully filled with the best kinds of roots, vegetables, and fruits. 

 No doubt these would help to supply the many orders received 

 for such things at the elegant shop in the High Street. I can 

 easily imagine that the changing of the crops from nursery 

 stock into that which is eatable would greatly tend to keep the 

 ground in good heart, and be especially suitable when the 

 nursery was close to a town. We would no doubt have seen 

 more if Mr. Sheppard had been with us, but iny friend and 

 myself found in his absence there was much to learn. — E. Fish. 



Thomson o's the Vine. — We are glad to see another and 

 a seventh edition of this popular " Treatise on the Vine " of 



