CULTIVATION OF THE TROPyEOLUM. 
59 
on receiving Roses from nurseries, ■whether 
English or foreign, pay attention to these 
directions in the planting, and be not in a 
hurry to condemn. Let them fail the first 
season, and be even middling only the second, 
but give them the benefit of the doubt, and 
try them a third season. Convince yourself 
that the variety is incapable of coming better, 
and that you have seen their natural habit, 
before you throw them away. We have had 
all the best sorts, judging by the description 
of the Rose growers, and have found many that 
could not come better, though they were bad; 
for if a petal is thin and curly, rough-edged 
and flimsy, it can never be good ; if the petals 
are good, but there are too few of them, there 
is great hope that culture will improve it from 
a semi-double to a perfect double, which is all 
that is wanted. 
Tropccolum Majus. 
CULTIVATION OF THE TROPYEOLUM. 
If we were to commence this article by 
pointing out to those familiar with the house- 
hold gardens of the last century the famous 
substitute for capers called Nasturtiums, and 
showing that the very common plant was and 
is one of the best of the tribe, some of the 
collectors of plants would be quite shocked at 
our want of taste, and think we had begun at 
the wrong end ; we, therefore, merely state 
that this tribe of plants, forming of itself the 
foundation of a natural order, TropaaolaceEe, is 
nothing more nor less than the different varie- 
ties and species of Nasturtiums, long used as 
favourite pickles, and grown by every grade of 
gardeners in every species of garden, from the 
princely establishment to the poor man's attic 
window full of flower-pots. The common 
Nasturtium has a rich orange-coloured flower, 
of large size, as compared with some of the 
more delicate species, and has been produced 
from seed in great variety, from a very pale 
yellow, with various stripes, to a very deep 
red brown, approaching a black, yet all bear- 
ing the same wholesome pod of seed, which 
forms the object of the housewife. But fa- 
miliar as this plant has been, and continues to 
be, as a culinary object, there are some even 
of this original species, but varied colour, cul- 
tivated for the sake of their flowers, as well 
as a double flow r eri 1 ig kind, which is preserved 
by many as a green-house plant. In addition 
to these, however, we have some which form 
very beautiful objects as climbing plants, and 
make no small show at the exhibitions. Of 
these, Tropa3olum Tricolorum, which is the 
most brilliant and remarkable, has been fore- 
most. The plant is exceedingly small, the 
stems not larger than a good thread, and yet 
growing an enormous length (some hundred 
feet, perhaps), and covering sometimes (a 
single specimen) thirty-six square feet of 
trellis with its brilliant scarlet, black, and 
yellow flowers and delicate leaves. The 
flower of this species is almost like a small 
horn, with the stem holding it by the middle, 
the principal part of it a brilliant scarlet, with 
a black band round the larger end, and a 
bright yellow lip. Almost every gardener 
who has pretended to exhibit plants has made 
a point of trying his skill on the growth of 
this fine and delicate subject, and scarcely an 
exhibition has taken place without there being 
many of them, trained in many ways, shown 
as specimens or placed in choice collections. 
There are many seedling varieties of this 
species which run larger or smaller, some 
paler, but none brighter ; and these we con- 
sider under the same head. One of the best of 
these is called Jarrattii, but it is simply a fine 
Tricolor, exhibiting no difference but the 
size, and that soon lost in bad hands. A 
•more robust, and certainly a more coarse 
and ugly kind, but of nearly the same 
form, was called Tropasolurn Pentaphyllum, or 
Pentaphyllus, according to the pleasure of dif- 
ferent persons. The stem of this was very 
Tropceolum Tricolorum. 
much stronger, the leaves larger, and the plant 
inclined to grow much faster ; the flower was 
larger, but nearly the same form, a dull light 
