AS A “ SPECIMEN ” PLANT. 
303 
ornamental an appearance Lotus jacobceus might be induced to assume when submitted 
like Pleroma elegans, adverted to in a previous number, to “ conditions essential to the 
most perfect cultivation ” even under the well-known and skilful tendence of such a talented 
gardener as Mr. Snow. This trifling circumstance only serves to confirm what many 
concurrent and coincident ones have of late reminded us of more forcibly — namely, that 
undoubtedly the most striking mutations which horticulture with science as her basis, and 
theory and practice as her hand-maids, cordially together and hand in hand advancing, 
has undergone during the last quarter, consists in the gratifying triumphs that have been 
achieved by a combined effort of scientific and practical skilfulness over the now obsolete 
methods of other and less enlightened days — in the wide-spread amount of success that 
has resulted in the judicious appliance of observations intimately acquainted with practical 
cause and effect evinced in the bestowal of greater care and attention in the pot-culture of 
ornamental exotics. 
Respecting the order Fabacecc, or Leguminous plants collectively (of which the subject 
of our present allusions is but a lowly member), the talented editor of the “Vegetable 
Kingdom ” truthfully observes, that “ the Leguminous order is not only among the most 
extensive that are known, but also one of the most important to man, whether we consider 
the beauty of the numerous species which are among the gayest-coloured and most graceful 
plants of every region, or their applicability to a thousand useful purposes. 
“ The Cercis, which renders the gardens of Turkey resplendent with its myriads of 
purple flowers ; the Acacia, not less valued for its airy foliage and elegant blossoms than 
for its hard and durable wood ; the Braziletto, Logwood, and Rosewoods of commerce ; the 
Laburnum ; the classical Cytisus ; the Furze and the Broom, both the pride of the other- 
wise dreary heaths of Europe; the Bean, the Pea, the Vetch, the Clover, the Trefoil, the 
Lucerne, all staple articles of culture by the farmer, are so many leguminous species.” 
Nor is Lotus jacobceus , as was evidenced in the instance before us, one of the least attractive, 
though humble members of this vast family; for, belonging to the third or Eulotus 
section of the genus, the dark brown Papilionaceous flowers, are disposed in corymbose 
umbels, and produced in profusion over the whole surface of the plant, when well grown, 
the year throughout ; indeed, such was the case with the specimen we saw of it at Wrest 
Park, and we were also much struck at the time with the pleasing appearance the foliage 
made, when contrasted with the velvety inflorescence with which the plant was bedecked 
from base to apex ; in short, we saw in this creditably-managed young specimen an adequate 
illustration of what has doubtless been more or less generally recognised, even by the most 
unobservant, that there are plants we meet with now and then in a high state of cultiva- 
tion, invested, as it were, with the highest degree of interest, and a corresponding amount 
of beauty of the most refined order ; although the identical species which thus, through the 
medium of a masterly kind of culture, is endowed with a capability to arrest the attention 
of all beholders, may, by improper management or indiscriminate neglect on the other 
hand, not improbably be deemed utterly unworthy of our regard. 
But to return to the consideration of its cultivation-proper, we will first observe, that 
a specimen pyramidically trained is apparently the most appropriate way to grow it, with 
a view to the full realisation of its natural habit and most characteristic features ; for it 
must not be overlooked, that the ordinary condition it is to be met with in, would be a poor 
criterion as to how its growth should be directed, in order to exhibit as conspicuously as 
possible all the graceful elegance that it is susceptible of imparting when subjected to 
skilful treatment. 
By what means, then, may a “specimen ” character be realised approximating in all 
important respects the appearance of the solitary plant we have adverted to, as having been 
produced at Wrest Park ? We may reply that these are points, which it is now proposed 
to investigate in detail, and efficaciously to do which, it will be advisable to date our obser- 
vations from the period of propagation, which should be performed as early in the spring 
as suitable cuttings of the young suffruticose shoots are obtainable, when the usual course 
of insertion, in a compost of which fine sand is the chief ingredient, must be performed ; 
but with respect to the application of moisture to the cuttings before the emission of roots 
