BRITISH PLANTS. 
159 
These instances, taken almost at random, may serve to indicate the kind of improve- 
ment of which we conceive British plants capable, by fertilizing their seeds with 
foreign kinds. And many others, perhaps more appropriate, will doubtless at once 
present themselves to. the mind of the thinking culturist. 
Although we have here limited ourselves to a consideration of the improvement 
that may be effected in British plants, the practice involved in the preceding obser- 
vations is capable of producing an extensive melioration amongst hardy plants gene- 
rally. But it would be foreign to the intention of the present paper to embrace a 
more excursive range ; we will now, therefore, proceed to other conditions capable 
of influencing the appearance of British plants. 
It must be obvious that when a plant is surrounded with grass or choked up with 
an intricate mass of other vegetation, it can hardly acquire more than the tithe of its 
real intrinsic excellence. And when divested of weeds and furnished with a kindly 
soil, prevented from acquiring coarseness by complete drainage, and other induce- 
ments to keep the roots near the surface, pegged to the ground, or otherwise secured 
so that the flowers may be conspicuously prominent, it is surprising what an altera- 
tion is brought about in the power of contributing to ornament. 
As a general maxim, all excess of manure should be avoided, at the same time 
employing a moderately rich soil, or the flowers of many plants will be inferior in 
size. Leaf-mould should be awarded in preference to dung, as the latter promotes a 
rank luxuriant vegetation, rather than the perfection of a flowering state ; and if with 
this a portion of turfy peat earth be incorporated and the whole added to a common 
garden soil, observing to secure a dry bottom to the border, and never to make it 
deep, little fear need be entertained of the production of superfluous vigour. Such 
a compost will supply the necessary amount of food to the majority of species suit- 
able for a garden ; but it must still be remembered that certain kinds may require 
a treatment peculiar to themselves, to the nature of which their native haunts will 
usually afford a satisfactory index. 
The only other point which we shall at present notice is the conspicuous advan- 
tages procured, by thinning the flower-beds when excessively abundant, removing 
decayed flowers, and the rudiments of seed. Although it may appear somewhat 
paradoxical to speak of ameliorating the appearance of a plant by removing a por- 
tion of its flowers, yet such in reality is the result with a large proportion of species. 
The abstraction is more than atoned for by the greater size of the remaining blooms, 
and the undisturbed health of the specimen, which enables it to continue flowering 
for a longer period. And nipping off the decayed flowers, and preventing the 
formation of seed, are beneficial in promoting the same end. 
We now come to consider briefly the manner in which British plants should be 
introduced to the pleasure-garden. When the arrangement of a garden will permit, 
we are decidedly more favourable to devoting a separate portion expressly to the 
purpose, than to intermixing them with exotic species. There is, however, no real 
or weighty objection to the latter plan, where none but the more showy kinds are 
