October 25, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



445 



mention. First, a collection of seedlins;- Dipladenias, all 

 from seeds of D. Brearleyana, and showing wide variation 

 of color, from pale rose to cerise and purple. They varied 

 also in the size and form of the flowers, and indicated that 

 a great deal might be done with Dipladenias, if the seeds 

 of the garden varieties were sown. The second feature is 

 Poinciana regia, the Goolmore or Flame-tree of the east, 

 vi'hich I have never seen in bloom in England, but which 

 is flowered every year at Carclew by keeping it pot-bound 

 and training its branches against the glass in a sunny stove- 

 house. Myrtus Ugni is grown as a kitchen-garden plant, 

 its fruits being made into jam. 



At Enys, the well-wooded demesne of the old Cornish 

 family of that name, there are some interesting and rare 

 New Zealand trees and shrubs : among others, Fagus Cun- 

 ninghamii, twenty feet high ; Pittosporums, thirty feet ; sev- 

 eral species of Eucalyptus, a fine bush of Olearia argo- 

 phylla, the Musk-tree ; another of Laurelia camphora, while 

 Lomaria procera, with fronds as large and rigid as a Gamia, 

 is common and apparently wild in the garden. Photinia 

 serrulata is thirty feet high and twenty feet in diameter, with 

 a trunk a foot through. Myosotidium nobile, a rare and 

 handsome herb from New Zealand, is represented by a 

 large clump suggesting a good stool of Rhubarb ; the 

 leaves are crowded on stout stalks, the largest over a foot 

 in diameter. Desfontanea is a common bush in the garden 

 and is nearly always in flower. Magnolia Lenniana, a va- 

 riety of M. conspicua, was in flower, and is a very hand- 

 some plant, the flowers being large and of a rich claret-red 

 color. Leptospermum scoparium is a tree there fifteen feet 

 high, and when in flower it is like a pillar of snow. The 

 woods are rich in big specimens of Turkey Oak and fine 

 Silver Firs, some of them 120 feet high, with grand mast- 

 like trunks. Cupressus macrocarpa, the pride of Cornish 

 and Devon gardens, is represented at Enys by enormous 

 trees, one I measured having a trunk three and one-half 

 feet in diameter. A lake in the lower part of the gar- 

 den is very picturesque, being surrounded by suitable 

 Reeds, Ferns, etc., while the banks are covered with a 

 thick mass of Primula Japonica. This plant has taken en- 

 tire possession of the whole of the margin of the lake, and 

 would, if allov\^ed, soon obliterate the paths, seedlings com- 

 ing up in dense turf-like masses. In early summer when 

 this Primrose is in flovi'er it must be very fine. 



In the gardens at Menabilly, the seat of Mr. Rashleigh, 

 there are many rare and fine examples of Coniferse. I saw 

 there Athrotaxis laxifolia, fifteen feet high ; A. imbricata nine 

 feet high ; Pinus oocarpa, twenty feet high, a broad, 

 thick-stemmed specimen ; P. parviflora, nine feet high, 

 said to be the largest example of this rare Pine in the 

 United Kingdom. P. Montezumae, twenty feet high, and as 

 wide ; Picea Ajanensis, P. Webbiana, Abies grandis and A. 

 Pindrow, each in fine, vigorous health and about twenty feet 

 high, while a beautiful little specimen of A. religiosa is nine 

 feet high. Retinospora leptoclada is seven feet high. The 

 genus Podocarpus is also represented by large examples. 

 It will afford some idea of the suitability of this garden for 

 Conifers if I give the measurements of a pair of Pinus in- 

 signis which were planted in 1838 by Mr. Rashleigh; these 

 are now seventy feet high, with trunks four feet in diameter. 



Escallonias are notable sea-side shrubs, and in some 

 parts of Cornwall, E. macrantha is a common hedge-plant, 

 and a very fine hedge it makes. The large waving plumes 

 of the beautiful Bamboo, Thamnocalamus Falconeri, occur 

 in many places in Mr. Rashleigh's garden, and always with 

 telling effect. Indeed, these and thousands of bushes of 

 Hydrangea hortensis, all bearing big bunches of rich blue 

 flowers, are special features at Menabilly. An avenue 

 planted with Yuccas, Chamasrops Fortunei and Bamboos 

 will be very effective in fifteen or twenty years. The true 

 Dracaena, or Cordyline indivisa, is here represented by 

 large specimens with stems six feet high, bearing large 

 heads of leaves six inches wide and three feet long, their 

 color yellowish green, with brown stripes. The lawns are 

 full of Daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs, the 



woods carpeted with hardy Cyclamens, and everywhere 

 there are big bushes of Himalayan Rhododendrons. The 

 ChiHan Raphithamnus cyanocarpus, a Myrtle-like bush 

 twelve feet high, was laden with bright China-blue fruits 

 when we saw it. Callistemons, Hakeas, Eurybias, Em- 

 bothrium, Pittosporums, and even Acacias, are all repre- 

 sented by big bushes. Litsea reticulata is a tree thirty feet 

 high, and Rhododendron Falconeri a magnificent speci- 

 men. Abutilon vitifolium album is at home on the lawn, 

 forming a large shrub and flowering freely in summer. 

 Where it is happy, this is one of the most beautiful of all 

 malvaceous plants. 



There are so many choice and tender plants in these 

 Cornish gardens that one wishes to see many of the newer 

 things tried there. So far as I could understand the condi- 

 tions, they are favorable to all the plants that can be culti- 

 vated in the open air in England, and also to a great many 

 which, even at Kew, have to be grown under glass. Corn- 

 wall might easily be made a gardener's paradise, and there 

 are, no doubt, many other places in the world where a lit- 

 tle gardening enthusiasm, rightly applied, would add mate- 

 rially to their beauty and interest. .„ „. 



London. iV. VValSOn. 



Cultural Department. 



Dahlias. 



TV/r R- ENDICOTT'S exception to my advice to grow single 

 ^*-^ Dahlias as annuals seems well taken from his point of 

 view. He speaks as a Dahlia fancier, and, of course, one who 

 has a special fancy for a particular flower will only be satis- 

 fied with the best forms attainable, and these are seldom or 

 never to be had when dependence is placed on seedlings. To 

 gain the finest forms of Dahlias, many crosses and careful 

 selections have been made, with certain points in view. This 

 is a flower of so sportive a character that a lot of seedlings 

 would probably show only a small proportion of forms satisfac- 

 tory to an amateur in Dahlias, and such a grower is quite right 

 in spurning my advice. However, there are those, like myself, 

 who only care for the Dahlia as a high-colored, showy flower, 

 useful in the garden in the fall. Such persons are in the ma- 

 jority, and to these my advice will be found sound, as applied 

 to single Dahlias in general, and the dwarf strain of these in 

 particular. Single Dahlias and Zinnias, which I treat alike, 

 are the brightest of flowers, and quite indispensable where 

 showy ones are desired. They are especially valuable, as they 

 give us a range of colors beyond the yellows with which our 

 gardens are usually filled in the later part of the season. My 

 friends, to whom I have distributed some of this strain, have 

 all been especially pleased with them, which adds to my con- 

 fidence, as my selections do not always meet with enthusiasm. 

 I fancy these seedling dwarf Dahlias because they give so little 

 trouble while growing, and the plants require no" staking. The 

 flowers, with slight exceptions, are very attractive, usually 

 fair-sized and pure in color. There are fine shades of self- 

 colored reds from nearly black to pink, and also whites and 

 yellows. Among them are also the blotched or striped kinds 

 — panachg — on various colored grounds, which are odd, anrl, 

 in some cases, attractive. In my small garden it does not pay 

 me to grow the Cactus Dahlias, which I fancy next to the sin- 

 gles. They make great bushes which require staking, and are 

 not very free-flowering. The handsomest of all Dahlias is 

 D. imperialis, but this is a subject for the greenhouse, as it 

 flowers late in the year. A well-flowered plant of this v'ariety 

 is a picture of superb beauty of form. Back of my greenhouse, 

 my neighbor grows a good collection of named double Dahlias, 

 and I discuss their points with him, but really do not care for 

 them nearer by. They make a great mass of handsome colors, 

 but they are unmistakably lumpy. Still, these are matters of 

 taste, and, perhaps, fortunately, we are not all pleased with the 

 same things. 



On the whole, there are no more satisfactory flowers grown 

 than the old favorites, such as Dahlias, Marigolds, Zinnias, 

 Nasturtiums and other garden-plants familiar to us from child- 

 hood. 



Most of us have associations or recollections connected with 

 one or more of the common flowers by which they are endeared 

 to us, and the rarest introductions of new kinds fail to give us 

 really as much pleasure. Probably, most owners of gardens, if 

 asked to select the flower which they would grow if confined 

 to one sort, would name one of these old garden friends. 



