October 18, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORHOUtiTORE AMD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



309 



I am not aeqaaiuted with anything that will prevent the Potato 

 murrain in a wet season. — A Kitchen Gardener. 



NIEREMBERGIAS AND THEIR CULTURE. 

 Elegance of growth, pleasing habit, anil chaste yet con- 

 spicuous flowers, are combined in the Nierembergias — qualities 

 which certainly render them attractive, and also (since fashion 

 now permits it) popular. During that period in English 

 flower gardening known as the massing epoch many plants of 

 quiet beauty passed into comparative obscurity and had to 

 give place to others possessing qualities of a more imposing 

 character — such as would add colour or grandeur to a formal 



deeign. Since that time the public taste has changed, and 

 not only changed but improved. Bright-coloured free-flower- 

 ing plants can never bo dispensed with for decorative purposes ; 

 but it is becoming more and more recognised that there are 

 other and less gorgeous plants which are capable of contri- 

 buting to the attractiveness of a garden. Amongst these are 

 the Nierembergias — a small genus of plants allied to Petunias ; 

 they might indeed ba almost regarded as miniature Petunias, 

 both belonging to the same natural order, Solanacese. 



The Nierembergias were named in honour of John Eusebius 

 Nieremberg, a Spanish Jesuit, and author of a history of 

 Nature. The speoies which is perhaps best known and most 

 extensively cultivated is N. gracilis : it is a valuable edging 



Fig. 61.— NlEREMBEBGIA EIVDLAEIS. 



plant for flower beds, and has been so employed effectively in 

 Battersea Park during the present season. It is also highly 

 attractive when grown in pots or baskets for greenhouse de- 

 coration. Plants taken up from the beds in autumn and 

 potted flower early and profusely during the following season. 

 Cuttings strike readily, and may be wintered in cold frames 

 and protected in severe weather. N. filicaulis (lilac), and 

 N. calycina (white), are also familiar, and are distinot and 

 pleasing when cultivated in pots. 



A species of more recent introduction and less seldom seen 

 is N. rivularis. We are indebted to Mr. Ware of Tottenham 

 for the accompanying illustration of this plant. It is also figured 

 in the "Botanical Magazine," and is described as a beautiful 

 little species, a native of La Plata, whence it was introduced 

 by Messrs. Veitch of the Boyal Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea, 

 with whom it flowered in July, 18GG. It was discovered by 

 the late Mr. Tweedie upwards of thirty years ago. This col- 

 lector desoribes it as a most lovely and fragrant plant, abound- 



ing by the sides of the Plate river, and only within high-tide 

 mark, its flowers rising above the dwarf grass which grows in 

 similar situations in such profusion that the plant is discerned 

 from a great distance. The flowers, which are yellowish- 

 white, are sometimes tinged with rose colour. It roots freely 

 from its slender Etems. It is a charming sub-aquatic plant, - 

 suitable for cultivating in pots or in moist places in the flower 

 garden during the summer. 



OSBORNE HOUSE. 



(An American Horticulturist's Commentary.) 

 I have mentioned the Queen's private residence at Osborne 

 House in the Isle of Wight as one of the small but beautiful 

 gardens with which England abounds. It was to me especially 

 interesting, as showing how rapidly trees could be made to 

 grow into beauty, or even utility if one were disposed to look- 

 on planting as a money investment alone. There are, of 



