August 15, 1872 ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



129 



the variegated forms of Dactylis and Panicuin ; but there are 

 two sorts which I wish to recommend for the beauty of their 

 flowers — namely, Lagurus ovatus, with beautiful, soft, velvety 

 spikes, and the charming little Agrostis pulehella. A quantity 

 of both should be grown in moderately rich soil in 5-inch pots, 

 as they are of most easy culture, and very desirable for a va- 

 riety of decorative purposes. 



Many of the stronger-growing Grasses are worthy of a place 

 in the shrubbery, herbaceous border, and by the margin of 

 ornamental water. The stately Gynerium must, of course, 

 rank first for such a purpose, and with it may be associated 

 the choicer kinds of Sorghum, Cyperus, Spartina, Arundo, 

 Maize, Phragmites communis, and many others. 



Like the Zea, Sorghum does not in our climate often ap- 

 proach that mature development requisite to render it valuable 



Stipa pennata. 



ior forage ; it is, therefore, not likely ever to rank so highly 

 among home-grown economic plants as was at one time ex- 

 pected. It is only in exceptionally hot seasons that its juices 

 become sufficiently charged with saccharine matter to yield 

 much sugar, yet the fact is noteworthy that sugar has been 

 experimentally manufactured from plants of Sorghum grown in 

 the south of England. In their native country, the varieties 

 of Sorghum, growing to an extraordinary height and size, pro- 

 duce wonderful crops of seed, and the huge stalks are given 

 as food to cattle. They are also used by the natives in some 

 parts of Africa for building huts. 



Many other tropical Grasses, and their allies the Reeds and 

 Rushes, are valuable economic plants. Of these the most im- 

 portant are the Rice of India and America, Maize, a staple 

 article of food in America, the Sugar Cane, and the Esparto 

 Grass (Stipa tenacissima) , imported from Algeria in such 

 large quantities for paper-making. There are other Reeds and 

 Grasses that are commercially important, such as the Bamboo, 

 so much valued for a variety of useful purposes, and the oil- 

 yielding Grasses belonging to the genus Andropogon. Stately 

 of growth, and undoubtedly useful as are these tropical species, 



to us they appear comparatively insignificant in value when con- 

 trasted with the Grasses flourishing in this country. Nature's 

 green carpet that makes the rural scenery of our temperate 

 climate so fresh and pleasant, has no equivalent in the tropics, 

 for there we find no green pastures in the sense in which we 

 understand the term. 



Much attention has been given for many years to the selec- 

 tion of Grasses suitable for forming and improving permanent 

 pastures. A series of experiments conducted some years ago 

 under the auspices of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey, 

 by Mr. Sinclair, the results of which are clearly set forth in 

 his " Hortus Grarnineus Woburnensis," did more to promote 

 Grass culture to the rank of a science than anything else that 

 has been done. This in its details is, of course, more interest- 

 ing to the agriculturist than to the gardener. I may state 



Setaria macrochasta. 



briefly that a large number of varieties were carefully col- 

 lected, cultivated in distinct patches in various soils, and care- 

 ful notes taken. Thus a mass of valuable and most reliable 

 data was accumulated, and the formation of permanent pastures 

 established upon a broad firm basis, the entire details of the 

 work being explained with such clearness as to render the 

 selections of suitable kinds that are now included in almost 

 every seed catalogue an easy matter. — Edward Luckhukst. 



TEA-ROSE ELECTION. 

 Marechal. Niel, Gloire de Dijon, Madame Levet, Devonien- 

 sis, Madame 'Willermoz, Souvenir d'Elise Vardon, Souvenir 

 d'un Ami, Adam, Rubens, Sombreuil, Madame Margottin, 

 and Madame Trifle. I consider Devoniensis, Souvenir d'Elise, 

 Madame Willermoz, and Margchal Niel to be the best four. 

 My plant of Marie Sisley is dead. I had a globular and hand- 

 some full bloom from it. It is of a creamy colour, with roseate 

 band. Its shape is sphosroidal. — W. F. Radclyffe. 



Sparaxis pulcherrima. — I notice in the Journal of August 

 1st, page 93, Sparaxis puleherrinia is said to be " an Iris-like 

 plant of surpassing beauty ; it usually grows from 2 to 3 feet 

 in height." It certainly belongs to Iridaees, but in no way I 

 think resembles the Iris in its flowers. Plants in my 



