160 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ A-Uguat 21, 1884. 
be removed as they cease flowering, for they seed so freely 
that unless removed the plants are exhausted. 
The following selection is not a large one, but has been 
made from a number of varieties, and includes some of the 
newest, most distinct, and finest forms in cultivation. Mrs. 
Heywood must be placed at the head of our selection, and is 
worthy of special note for its dwarf branching habit and free- 
flowering qualities. This is perhaps the finest variety that 
has yet been raised, for it does not exceed 14 inches in height 
and flowers to within a few inches of the ground. Its dense 
spikes of bloom are not bent down by wind or rain, its habit 
being so sturdy that it carries the whole of its spikes perfectly 
erect. The colour, which is white tinged with scarlet, is 
very pleasing and striking. It was raised and sent out by 
Mr. John Downie, Edinburgh, as well as the whole of 
the varieties comprised in this selection. Sir William Forbes 
has a grand spike of bright scarlet flowers with a white 
throat slightly veined. Andrew Sinclair, shaded rosy scarlet, 
with heavily blotched throat; a lovely variety and perhaps 
the finest of its colour yet raised. William Kilgour pro¬ 
duces very massive spikes with flowers of a large size, being 
in colour bright in rose with a pure white throat. Osgood 
M‘Kenzie is rosy red in colour with a magnificent throat, 
which is most beautifully pencilled. Mrs. Patterson is a 
very fine rosy red variety with a crimson and white throat. 
Mrs. A. Smith is grand in every respect, being deep rose in 
colour with a white throat. Dr. Tuke is one of the earliest 
to flower, and is very showy with its bright red flowers, 
white throat veined with crimson. To these may be added 
Acros, which is totally distinct from any named, being of a 
pinkish colour with a beautiful pencilled throat, but is not so 
free-flowering as those named above ; it makes perhaps the 
finest and most compact spike of all. J. T. Downie is a very 
showy variety, and quite distinct, of the darkest crimson 
with a lovely white throat—in fact none in colour is more 
conspicuous, but its habit is rather weak, the plant being 
scarcely able to support its large spikes of bloom. It is 
nevertheless worthy of a place in any garden, for it flowers 
most freely.— Wm. Baednky. 
NOTIONS—WEITING FOE THE PEESS. 
Having been reading, and observing, and cogitating of late, I 
have a few notions that I pen and submit to the Editor for what they 
are worth. If he thinks they are of any use practically or sug¬ 
gestively he will perhaps print them ; if not, he has at hand that 
great convenience for crude ideas, wasted efforts, and spoiled material 
—(he waste-paper basket. 
I wonder how many acres of manuscript have found their way 
into that receptacle, and for what reason they were thus disposed of. 
I have a notion that the powers that be that cater for the public and 
supply what is interesting or useful do not wantonly reject anything 
that can be readily made acceptable. I once had a different notion, 
but it has vanished. Seized with an ambition to jcin in the work of 
public teaching, I years ago ventured to send my first letter for 
publication, and waited with fear and trembling the result. It was not 
very flattering, for not half of what I had prepared so carefully ever 
saw' the light; and, curiously enough, everything that I regarded as of a 
commonplace character wms honoured, while the portions on which I 
prided myself as something superior were suppressed. On and on I 
went w'riting in the same grandiloquent style, using as many scientific 
words and long phrases as I could string together ; but it was of no use. 
What I had intended to cover a page or two was condensed into a 
column, until my patience was exhausted, and I had the temerity to 
write and ask the reason why my articles were so severely pruned. 
4 he reply wms to the following effect, and was not to be for¬ 
gotten ;— “We are glad to receive what you may send because we 
always get something out of it; but if you w'ill persist in employing 
long sentences where short ones will do, if you will hunt outlandish 
W’ords from the dictionary—in a word, if you loill soar into the clouds 
instead of remaining on the earth, w'hers a gardener ought to be, you 
leave us no alternative but to “ prune,” and you will always find an 
Editor can cut out faster than you can put in, although he wmuld veiy 
much rather jmu wmuld not give him that trouble. Be plain and 
natural in expression ; use simple language ; when you wish to say a 
thing say it clearly, so that your meaning cannot possibly' be mis¬ 
understood ; and, having said it, do not proceed to say it over again 
in another form, or to explain it in a multitude of words, which 
neither emphasise nor elucidate, but invariably dilute and confuse. 
Attend to these injunctions, take as much pride in writing neatly and 
correctly as you would in making a wedding bouquet ; in short, what¬ 
ever you do, endeavour to do it in the best manner possible, and 
sooner or later you will be in every respect a better man, and will 
wonder that you asked why your articles were spoiled by the indi¬ 
viduals who could not possibly have any other object than to 
improve them.” 
That advice, as I have said, was not to be forgotten, and, as it 
proved useful to me in an occasional letter to the press, and more so 
in correspondence on various business matters with persons of some¬ 
what high social position, so also it may possibly prove of_ service to 
others who are seeking to make themselves as competent with the pen 
as they are in the various practical matters pertaining to their duties 
as gardeners. I have a notion that many persons are longing to be 
able to write freely, agreeably, and correctly, yet fail because they 
are not content to adhere to the simplicities of their mother tongue. 
This facilitj' of clear and accurate expression cannot be learned so 
well by any other means as by writing to the press and observing the 
manner in which the communications, be they long or be they short, 
are dealt with by the Editors. They will find many an involved 
sentence suppressed, many a florid unmeaning expression sobered, 
many a long word supplanted by a short one ; and, undoubtedly, the 
simpler the language the more forcible, the more elegant, and the 
more beautiful. A person who prides himself on his diction, and who 
considers that by ringing the changes on a few scientific terms and 
sonorous sentences he displays his accomplishments, is often long ip 
learning the lesson now sought to be inculcated, and loth to admit 
the truth of the principle that simple language is the best index of 
the cultured mind. Yet in time he sees the truth of what is really a 
truism, and then wonders at his previous notions, smiles at his earlier 
efforts, and would be glad to forget if he could many an indiscreet, 
because pompous, letter he has written in the sanguine days of 
youth. 
Another matter of more importance than many young persons 
imagine is to cultivate the habit of thinking out a subject sy stema¬ 
tically—that is to say, of concentrating the mind on the different 
phases of whatever may be under mental review, mastering each in 
turn and in a natural order of sequence. By practice and per¬ 
severance this habit may be acquired, and a most valuable acquisition 
it is, as it enables the possessor to express himself with the greatest 
ease and in a manner that cannot fail to be appreciated by his hearers 
or readers. 
A person who has a clear idea of a subject on which he essays to 
write commences at the beginning firmly and clearly, follows the 
argument or phases step by step in natural progression until the 
various points are brought under review, then when he reaches the 
end he knows it, and without more ado concludes as firmly, crisply, 
and clearly as he began. An article thus written is always readable, 
and that is something, even a great deal. Attention is arrested at 
the beginning, the sub^ject is made clearer in each successive sentence, 
the ideas of the author are comprehended, and the whole matter 
understood, while the firmness or finish leaves an impression that is 
never produced by any other means ; but, and here is the obverse, a 
writer who has not trained himself to think consecutively first of all 
errs by his tedious hesitancy in approaching his subject. His long 
circumlocutary introduction betrays his weakness. He gropes and 
gropes, and at last strikes his object, but only to rebound, for the 
next moment he is in the middle, then at the end, and anon at 
the beginning again ; but at last he gets afloat and sails. He glides 
along freely enough for a time, but now and again is thrown violently 
out of his course, recovers and reaches the goal; but, and here is a 
great failing, does not appear to know it, and so goes on wandering 
to the vanishing point. What is there left for the mind to dwell on 
in such a case ? Simply nothing. The tapering tail-making pro¬ 
pensities of some w'riters and preachers is nothing short of pitiable. 
Avoid these dribblings. The true orator makes no such mistakes. 
He does not lead his hearers to the bursting point of enthusiasm, and 
then gently soothes them down until they are nearly asleep, with 
scarcely power to say, “ good night.” He is far too wise for that. 
He leads his hearers on, and just when the wish is greatest to hear 
more he throws off some telling sentence and retires. Is not this quite 
true ? 
And now to another notion in connection with this subject, which 
is of interest to many, and that is the consciousness of the existence 
of a desire on the part of readers to become writers, but whose diffi¬ 
dence restrains them. That desire is laudable. Than the wish to 
aid in anything that is worthy, the longing to be useful, the yearning 
to impart knowledge, nothing can be more commendable. It is within 
the knowledge of most persons whose correspondence is not incon¬ 
siderable, that there is no lack of men of ability and men of literary 
accomplishments if they did but know it ; but these individuals 
cannot summon courage to join the great army of public teachers who 
