August 30, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
187 
America, and as it extends from Mexico through the West Indies to 
Brazil, and is also found in Tropical Africa, it can be readily imagined 
that the climatic conditions alone would produce much diversity of 
aspect in such a Fern. A notable and elegant variety is that shown 
in the woodcut (fig. 33), Adiantum tetraphyllum gracile, which was 
introduced by Mr. W. Bull of Chelsea through one of his collectors in 
Colombia a few years since, and it was thus described in the list of new 
plants for 1880 :—“ A handsome stove Fern. It is of moderate stature> 
and remarkable for the beautiful reddish tint assumed by its fronds 
when first developed, and continuing until they are fairly expanded. 
The fronds are bipinnate, on slender black stipes, arching over elegantly 
at the top, and dividing into from four to six linear pinnae. The red 
colour of the young fronds adds very much to the ornamental aspect of 
the plant, which is, moreover, of an elegant mode of growth.” 
EDINBURGH GARDENS. 
For open spaces, wide streets, splendid architecture, and unrivalled 
situation, “mine own romantic town,” as Sir Walter Scott wrote it, 
the Waverley Market, at the extreme east end of the valley, level with 
the street above, is a regular parterre of flower beds and cement walks. 
To break the monotony of the level roof, which few would suppose 
other than terra Jinna, at present there are many fine specimens of Sweet 
Bays from 5 to 10 feet high, pyramidal shape, in tubs. These are in the* 
finest health. But there are no others. Sweet Bays, and nothing but 
Sweet Bays, are surely not in good taste. In the nurseries of Edinburgh 
are to be found specimens of coniferous plants that would lend variety 
by furnishing grace in form and different tints of green, and not in 
summer only, but in winter, when everything seems bare and dreary. 
We understand that Edinburgh people are proud of their Waverley Market 
garden and prize their Bays, not altogether because of their beauty, but 
because of their cost 1 
All things considered, the plants that fill the beds are in pleasing 
health, and no expense is spared in keeping the gardens neat and clean. 
For a town garden the grass is wonderfully fresh, and, being well kept,, 
is a very pleasing feature, affording relief to eyes tired out with the 
glare of masses of stone. 
Though praise is given for the condition of the garden, conscien¬ 
tiousness compels us to add that it is not deserved for the floral arrange¬ 
ment. Criticism is not always pleasant, but it is often useful, and we 
think that it is our duty to the public to point out what to avoid as 
Fig. 33.—Adiantum tetraphylj.um gracile. 
stands pre-eminent among not only the towns of Great Britain but of 
the world. Prominent in all of these respects stands Prince’s Street, with 
its long line of splendid buildings on the north side of the street, and 
its noble expanse of lawns, trees, flower beds, and monuments in the 
immediate front, with the grim, old, historical castle crowning the beet¬ 
ling rock to the right hand, and Old Edinburgh stretching before far to 
the left, between the castle and Holyrood, while New Edinburgh lies to 
the back. The space between the old and new towns is named in old 
maps the North Loch, but it is now dry. In what was once the bottom 
runs the North British Railway—at once a landscape nuisance and 
a travelling necessity. As an eyesore, however, it is not so very 
objectionable, as it runs at the bottom of a cutting, while steep on either 
6ide rise high banks, vieing in some instances with Highland scenery in 
ruggedness of aspect. The slopes in front of Prince’s Street have been 
formed into magnificent terraces, on the top and at the bottom of which 
are flower beds and shrubs arranged in a style that does great credit to 
those who designed and carried out the work ; nay, more, on the top of 
well as what to follow. Public gardens exercise an educational power, 
and the masses are apt to follow what is either praised or even not 
mentioned, whether right or wrong. It is not often that arrangements 
are so constantly wrong as they have been, and are, in the case of the 
Edinburgh gardens ; and had this year given us the first examples, we 
might have supposed that in future the defects would be remedied, but 
as the mistakes of the past are perpetuated this hope cannot be in¬ 
dulged in. Without further taking up space in generalities we will 
point out how most of the arrangements clash with all recognised 
rules of good taste. 
Let us begin with the garden over the Waverley Market. Two-thirds 
of this garden are in walks, and the walks are cement of a greystone 
colour. The edgings of the beds are light stone mouldings. Three- 
fourths of the beds are edged with Lobelia St. Martin’s Blue, a beautiful 
plant with dark foliage and blue flowers, with a line of much dwarfer 
Echeverias second. On a sunny day the glare of the pavement makes 
this almost, if not quite, invisible, and the effect is not superior to what 
