200 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 15, 1870. 



with me they are favourites, and it will be some time before 

 they can be surpassed, especially the Bronze, Tricolor, Bicolor, 

 and Silver Variegated, kinds of which the foliage is a show 

 without mentioning the flowers. 



I now pass to some other good bedding plants. The first 

 shall be Lobelia speciosa, which still holds the sway as a dwarf 

 blue-flowering plant; it comes in flower early, and is the last 

 to go out of bloom. Its treatment is very simple. In October 

 I lift a few plants from self-sown seeds, of which there are 

 plenty in the beds, prick them out in square pans, keep them 

 from frost during winter, and place them in gentle heat; it is 

 then propagated as freely as a weed. This method is preferable 

 to sowing seed in spring. 



Calceolaria Aurea floribunda, and Prince of Orange, are both 

 useful and effective plants ; the latter is more liable to damp- 

 ofl in winter than the former, but care should be taken to keep 

 the cuttings dry when put in, shutting them up closely in 

 the day for the first week to prevent their flagging, and giving 

 ventilation at night. 



Ageratum mesicanum is also good where there is room for it. 

 A pan of cuttings put in during this month, and kept from 

 frost, will afford plenty of cuttings in spring. The same remark 

 is true of Gazania splendens, which still holds a place in 

 my garden, though it closes its blooms in rainy or cloudy 

 weather. Viola cornuta Perfection is very fine with me, though 

 my stock is limited ; still I hope to have a good quantity of it 

 for next season. So far nothing has approached it in beauty, 

 excepting Lobelia speciosa, and even that is not equal to it, the 

 blooms of Perfection being large and of a good colour, it is also 

 very constant in blooming. I consider this plant well named. 

 Viola lutea grandiflora has done well here ; it is very dwarf, 

 and bears an abundance of yellow flowers. I think a bed of it 

 will look well. 



Iresine Lindenii is with me another gem ; the colour is 

 splendid, and it withstands the hot, dry weather without flinch- 

 ing. This will prove the best coloured plant grown. Iresine 

 Herbstii I have thrown away; it is not to be compared with 

 I. Lindenii, though it is useful for pots and baskets. Dactylis 

 glomerata vaiiegata is a good edgirjg plant, and is easily pro- 

 pagated, for the old plants can be kept in a very small space in 

 the winter, and in spring can be divided by dozens. It will 

 also stand the winter if left in the ground. Abutilon Thomp- 

 sonii is very showy, and is likely to do well bedded here. 

 Seduin sempervirens is a neat, compact plant for small beds or 

 rockeries, but it will be some time before it and Echeveria 

 metallica be established as favourites. Pyrethrum Golden 

 Feather has only been moderately good with me, but I think 

 it is owing to my treatment of it. I put in cuttings of it in 

 October with the Calceolarias, and the consequence is they 

 have nearly all flowered, which spoils it. 



Coming now to hardier plants, Arabis variegata is a good 

 plant for edgings, but the flowers should be pinched out as soon 

 as seen. Cerastium tomentosum is still good, but requires to 

 be divided in spring ; if left more than a year without replant- 

 ing it becomes very rough, and is- not like the same plant. 

 Pentstemon magnifieum is a good hardy blue-floweiing plant 

 in a mixed garden or for borders. 



I have now given the names and the winter treatment of the 

 bedding plants which succeed well at this place, three miles 

 from Manchester. I have purposely avoided annuals, as I con- 

 sider them out of place in the flower garden proper, though ex- 

 tremely useful for borders and clumps ; still Saponaria cala- 

 brica sown in pans or boxes in spring, pricked out as soon as 

 the plants can be handled, and well hardened-off, is very useful 

 and neat. 



In conclusion, I would say there is nothing like sti iking 

 Geraniums early and potting when ready, half a dozen well- 

 established plants being worth a score of weak, sickly cuttings 

 placed in boxes and kept anywhere but in the right place. 

 Speaking from my own practice, cuttings should all be in, 

 at the latest, in August, and potted-off in September. Every- 

 thing should be well hardened-off by the middle of May at the 

 latest, andtnen planted out, the hardening-off the plants simply 

 meaning the well-being of the flower garden for the summer. 

 — Stephen Castle, The Gardens, Bent Hill, Prestwicli. 



out a hundred plants in a border. The effect has been all that 

 could be wished ; every plant has come true to its colour, and 

 has remained about 10 inches high in my rich soil. I have 

 Coleus, Iresine, Amaranthus, and Perilla planted out, but 

 Osborn's Select Red Beet has far surpassed them in every re- 

 spect ; in future it will be a regular bedding plant with me. 

 Its effect in a bed with Centaurea candidissima is superb. — 

 Stiff Soil. 



BEDDING PLANTS IN THE NORTH OP 



ENGLAND— LAWN MOWERS. 



I send you a few notes of how bedding plants have done here 

 this hot summer, as such notes from others are always useful 

 to me. 



Of Geraniums, Waltham Seedling surpasses anything else 

 among the scarlets, and is all that could be wished. Christine 

 is also beautiful in its colour. I have tried Lord Derby, but 

 the caterpillars are too fond of it, and damage it to its de- 

 struction . I have likewise tried the Double Tom Thumb, but it 

 does not bloom freely enough, and is not effective in colour. 

 Gold and Bronze Geraniums have been much greener than last 

 year ; they do better with plenty of moisture. Gloire tie 

 Nancy is of no use out of doors, even as a centre ; it runs to 

 leaf, and the trusses become small. Verbenas have succeeded 

 better without water, and were most beautiful when it was 

 hottest. Lobelia is a short-lived flower, and if plants are 

 forward enough to bloom in June, they are out of bloom at the 

 end of August. Calceolarias have been a failure this year, 

 except where well watered. I think they cannot have too much 

 water. Iresine Lindeni looks beautiful when well watered, and 

 edged with Golden Feather Pyrethrum, as it is here. Echeveria 

 metallica is not effective when mixed with such as the above. 



May I add a word about lawn mowers, from a theoretical 

 point of view ? It appears obvious that a machine which makes 

 few cuts per yard must necessarily rib the grass more than one 

 which makes many ; the only question (which is a practical 

 one) is, whether the ribbing of any particular machine is suffi- 

 cient to be objectionable. Second, that such a machine must 

 be easier to work, as it does less ; the only question is, whether 

 the other is too hard to work when the grass is short. Third, 

 that a machine with many knives must necessarily be able to 

 cut the grass shorter, and by hard work it is able to cut it 

 when long. The conclusion from these considerations is, that 

 the old machines alone can bring a lawn to the highest state of 

 finish, such as is required for croquet, while the new must be 

 a great boon to those who have a large space to keep in order, 

 and where the close-cutting of the old machines would be 

 thrown away. So in a large establishment both may be in- 

 dispensable, since neither can do satisfactorily the work of the 

 other.— J. F. B., York. 



RED BEET FOR A FLOWER GARDEN. 



Mb. Gotto must have made the mistake of not getting the 

 right sort of Beet. I purchased a packet of seed from Messrs. 

 Osborn, of Falham, sowed it on a gentle hotbed, and pricked 



METROPOLITAN FLORAL SOCIETY- 

 CHAPMAN'S FLOWER CASES. 

 Having seen the report of the first show of the Metropo- 

 litan Floral Society, I, for one, shall be most happy to aid the 

 Rev. H. H. Dombrain in his praiseworthy efforts to encourage 

 the cultivation of the pets of my childhood, supposing that 

 those gems of the old-fashioned country and cottage gardens 

 will be permitted a place in the metropolitan shows. I refer 

 to the spring flowers— Pansies, Ranunculuses, the gay and 

 brilliant Anemones, and the lovely Auriculas. As we hope to 

 have the support of our country cousins in this good work, I 

 must remind them that distance, or fear of their pets being 

 injured in transit or flagging from want of natural provision 

 (water), is now a secondary consideration, for by the intro- 

 duction of Chapman's patent case flowers may be sent hun- 

 dreds of miles without being injured. To prove what I say is 

 correct, I, as an amateur of very humble pretensions, sent from 

 this place (Gloucester) to the Worcestershire Show, held at 

 Kidderminster on the 30th of last month, in one of these 

 patent cases six bunches of flowers, and on their return on 

 Monday morning the 5th inst., finding them in such good pre- 

 servation, Eent through a friend to the Crystal Palace Show 

 on the 6th of this month, where they remained the three 

 days, and look well this morning after having been in the 

 case ten days, and travelled above three hundred miles ! 

 I suppose an advertisement of the Society will soon appear. 

 When it does I shall be happy to subscribe my mite, and do 

 all I can to induce others to follow my example ; for, depend 



