272 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



raising it above any other kind. There has been 

 a great deal of discussion as to its parentage, and 

 although I do not in the present article intend 

 to give its immediate parents, we can say that 

 it was raised from the results of crossing two 

 hardy hybrids, and is not, as has been said, a 

 direct Aucklandii seedling ; yet it throws back 

 to that strain. Beside its beautiful colouring 

 the size of the blooms is remarkable ; I have 

 measured individual flowers in a truss that 

 were more than 5 inches in diameter. The ad- 

 vent of Pink Pearl has to a certain extent over- 

 shadowed the fine qualities of several other 

 good novelties raised at Bagshot. We may re- 

 fer specially to the following as being quite in 

 the first rank of hardy hybrids : — Lady Clemen- 

 tina Walsh and Gomer Waterer, two varieties 

 raised in the same batch and bearing marked 

 family likeness. They are both white, but fine- 

 ly coloured at the edge of the petals with a 

 delicate rose. The size of the blooms is above 

 the average, and both are good in leaf and 

 habit. Viscount Powerscourt is a fine red with 

 heavy markings on the upper petal, and a 

 very showy kind. Other good kinds are Mrs. 

 Tritton, a bright crimson with light centre; 

 Charlie Waterer, scarlet with light centre; and 

 Marquis of Waterford, a clear pink similarly 

 shaded — all of them good. Great care has of 

 late been taken in the naming of new kinds ; 

 in fact, it is our practice to flower them seve- 

 ral times before deciding on their merits, it 

 beingjimpossible to judge of their value with- 

 out this'time of testing. 



F. G. WATERER, Bagshot. 

 Trees of the Pine Tribe for Wet Ground. — A 

 friend in America writes that the deciduous Cypress, 

 the Western Arborvitae, and the Hemlock Spruce, 

 all thrive in very wet ground, as does the Norway 

 Spruce, and we believe also the Menzies' Spruce. 

 We rightly resort to trees of the Pine tribe for sandy 

 or stony hills, but it is well to know that we are not 

 obliged to confine ourselves to Willows and Alders 

 on wet heavy bottoms if for any reason we prefer an 

 evergreen tree. In southern parts of Britain where 

 the Norway Spruce, after its first youth is past, is 

 such a failure, we have often noticed good results 

 from it by streams and in heavy bottoms. The Sitka 

 Spruce, also a very valuable tree, is excellent so far 

 as we have tried it in similar situations, and we have 

 noticed the Douglas Fir thriving very well in hollows 

 in wet woods. Even the Silver Fir, a tree that is not 

 always happy in stiff and dry soils, we have seen 

 making a fine growth near water. 



THE MYRTLE. 



Though there aresome hundred or more kinds 

 of Myrtle scattered mainly over the southern 

 hemisphere,the well-known kind lauded by the 

 ancients, and still a favourite in our day, is the 

 northernmost of its great family. It is common 

 as a shrub or low tree throughout the south of 

 Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, 

 and is hardy in some parts of our own country. 

 In all the Mediterranean region it occurs as un- 

 derwood, variable in height (from a few inches 

 to 1 2 to 1 5 feet) and quite as much in leaf ; the 

 most marked of these forms bear distinctive 

 names. Old plants form a spreading root-stock, 

 or, more rarely take on a standard form, when 

 the stem is sometimes found of the size of a man's 

 leg ; but owing to the constant cutting of under- 

 growth, to forest fires,and the browsing of goats, 

 such a girth is uncommon. As a wild plant it 

 grows best in moist and half-shady bottoms, but 

 does not bloom in such places so well as upon the 

 open hill-sides where, even in the driest places, 

 small-leaved forms contrive to bloom and fruit 

 profusely, many birds of passage feeding upon 

 the berries during their southern flight in 

 autumn. When distilled, its leaves and young 

 shoots yield a fragrant oil,known zsEaud'Ange. 

 It was first brought to this country at the close 

 of the fifteenth century, and has been much 

 grown in old gardens as a trained or specimen 

 plant in tubs, or upon walls where, with slight 

 protection, it passes the winter uninjured in 

 mild and southern coast districts. For either of 

 these uses it is a beautiful object, fine in flower, 

 and the foliage useful when cut; it does well in 

 any light porous soil, but must be freely watered 

 and syringed to keep down thrip. The many 

 tropical and southern species are commonest in 

 South America, though several kinds are found 

 in Australia, New Zealand, and adjacent islands, 

 and two or three far towards the antarctic zone. 

 Of these but few are in cultivation, but the fol- 

 lowing may sometimes be met with in collec- 

 tions : — 



New Zealand Myrtle (M. bullatd). — A 

 rigid-growing greenhouse shrub from New 

 Zealand, with leaves reaching a length of 2 

 inches and often strangely netted and crinkled. 

 It grows 10 to 15 feet high, bearing solitary 

 flowers of a pale rosy colour, followed by black 

 urn-shaped berries. 



