September 2,1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 211 
roots suiting them admirably. Of the yellow-flowering varieties 
Annei graudiflora is perhaps the best, the flowers being large and 
clear. Gladioliflora is an excellent orange-red variety with good 
foliage ; Secretaire Kopner, rich scarlet, is ree, early, and good ; 
Van Houtteiis one of the best of the dark-foliaged ; and Peruviana 
the finest green-leaved variety, with long spikes of bright scarlet 
flowers. Although Gannas will generally survive the winter if 
left in the beds and protected with manure and leaves, it is found 
the best practice to take them up and winter them under the 
stages of plant houses in cocoa-nut fibre or leaf sod. 
Pelargoniums are also flowering with great freedom, and the 
beds have recently been very gay. If a large bed of an intense 
glowing crimson is wanted, obtain a stock of Charles Schwind. 
If a smaller bed of the same colour is coveted, plant Henry 
Jacoby. Nothing can surpass them in richness as seen in the 
Park. There is an abundance of good pink bedders. Perhaps the 
finest bed is of Mrs. Ward, rosy pink ; but Mrs. Lancaster, salmon 
pink, is excellent, and equally so but paler is Mrs. Quilter. For 
producing a mass of glowing pink the old Cleopatra must not be 
despised. A bed of it near the western entrance is fine, and the 
visitor will also notice there a charming mixture of the veteran 
P. Manglesii above mentioned, and a dwarf scarlet Tropmolum ; 
he cannot fail to notice also and admire in the same design 
edgings of the pink Lobelia Omen. Of the Nosegay Pelargoniums 
Waltham Seedling wears wonderfully well ; indeed, for continuous 
flowering it is unsurpassed, if equalled. Of Bonfire there are also 
brilliant masses, and Fire King is very good. One of the best of 
the rather tall scarlets—large in truss and bright in colour, fine 
for large beds and borders—is Montrouge, and the best dwarf is 
probably Vesuvius ; but Little David, a miniature Tom Thumb, 
must not be forgotten. 
In another portion of the Park are long lines of superior double 
yellow and white varieties of Chrysanthemum coronarium that 
show to great advantage. A dwarf yellow French Marigold is 
largely employed, and winding lines of Calceolarias, Gains’s 
Yellow, are not too bright for their position in front of sombre 
masses of shrubs. In front of the Calceolarias dwarf Ageratums 
are extremely beautiful—Countess of Stair and Cupid (Ireland 
and Thomson), the latter is dwarfer and darker than the former, 
but both are good. Of the blue Lobelias Mazarine Gem and 
Brighton are perhaps the best, a line of the former being splendid. 
Dahlias are just coming into beauty, and seedling Verbenas mixed 
with Mignonette make a sweet and pretty border. 
Such is a passing glance of the most noticeable plants in this 
Park, but one other feature remains to be briefly noticed—the 
“ Wilderness.” This is a new feature near the north-eastern 
entrance, and is not yet opened to the public. It is composed of 
mounds and dells, high banks, and curving walks. At the bottom 
of the dells the variegated Comfrey (Symphytum asperrimum varie- 
gatum) is effective, and on the banks there will in a year or two 
be a grand display of the valuable Hydrangea paniculata grandi¬ 
flora. The Aralia-like plant Dimorphanthus mandshuricus is 
flowering freely in this corner of the Park, which is sure to be 
much patronised by the public when it is opened. 
Battersea Park is worthy of the country, most creditable to Mr. 
Roger, his foreman Mr. Hart, and other assistants ; and that it 
is valued by the public sufficient proof is afforded by the fact 
that it is not unusual for from thirty-five thousand to forty 
thousand people to enter the subtropical garden during fine 
Sunday evenings. 
KENNINGTON PARK. 
This small but gay and much-crowded Park in the south of 
London is also under the superintendence of Mr. Roger, and is 
admirably kept by Mr. Brown, a practical gardener and indus¬ 
trious man. No lawns and terraces can be kept neater than they 
are here, and no beds and borders can be imagined more bright 
and cheerful. The position is not well adapted for subtropical 
plants, and only a few down the centre of the large sunken panels 
are occupied with ornamental-foliaged plants—Cannas, Variegated 
Maize, Perillas, Centaureas, See .—in mixture, but the beds of 
flowering plants on the terrace are in the most satisfactory con¬ 
dition. Carpet beds are comparatively limited, there only being 
eight of these—the corner beds on two terraces, but they are 
excellent of their kind, one or two of them being very superior. 
In one of these beds a scroll of Sedum acre elegans surrounded 
with a streak of yellow (Golden Stellaria) in a rich ground of 
Alternanthera magnifica, with cushions of Mentha and raised 
succulents, a fine close green band of Herniaria glabra lined with 
Kleinia, then another thin line of yellow, and an edging of Eche- 
verias, is an arrangement that should be seen by all admirers of 
this style of decoration. The colours are so well balanced and the 
design represented with such precision and accuracy as to render 
the bed in the highest degree artistic. No one can justly say that 
carpet bedding is overdone in this Park, and it is incontestable 
that the few beds are greatly admired by thousands of visitors. 
Amongst the Pelargoniums the dark varieties John Gibbons, 
General Outram, A. F. Barron, and Rev. J. Atkinson are glowing 
masses. Cerine is a lively pink, and Lizzie Brooks a fine soft 
scarlet. Most of the beds are edged with a silver bicolor 
variety and edged with Lobelia Porcelain Brilliant, a fine variety 
in splendid condition. In the centre of the terrace the formality 
of the arrangement is broken by the Ivy-clad cottage and the 
raised banks of flowers sloping from the hedge which partly 
surrounds it. One of these banks is covered thickly with 
Pansies, Phlox Drummondi, and Mimuluses in mixture, with 
blocks of Zinnias here and there, and a line of these flowers 
next the hedge. The other bank has a groundwork of 
l’etunias. The double Zinnias obtained from a private source 
are splendid, equalling bouquet Dahlias, those from purchased 
seed being poor in comparison. A very long line of Anemone 
japonica along the southern boundary of the Park is very beautiful, 
and another extensive flower garden in a sunken panel is extremely 
gay with Calceolarias, Perilla, Pelargoniums Edward Sutton, 
scarlet, and Mrs. Holden pink, and Blue Bell Viola. Many 
thousands of plants are employed in this arrangement, and all 
have done well and flowered freely. Some mixed beds—Iresine 
Lindeni associated with the golden-foliaged Pelargonium Robert 
Fish, and the Duchess of Teck Pansy ; and Iresine, a silver-leaved 
Pelargonium, and Verbena venosa, have a pleasing effect. Thus 
nearly all styles of flower gardening are represented in this Park, 
while the shrubs on the south side show what can be done by 
timely thinning, and allowing each shrub space to form a hand¬ 
somely formed specimen. Such borders have a far better effect 
than overcrowded masses of evergreens as are too often seen 
in public and private gardens. Kennington Park is much and 
deservedly valued by the inhabitants in its locality, and well it 
may be, for few aristocratic gardens are more gay and in better 
order than this pleasant enclosure. 
FIRM OR LOOSE POTTING. 
A few remarks on potting may interest some readers of the 
Journal. I have often noticed the difference in the potting of 
plants from the Continent and those grown in England. The former 
are potted loosely and in a light soil. Take, for instance, Azaleas 
and Camellias. While those from the Continent are potted 
lightly in decayed matter, in England we generally find Azaleas 
in peat, and Camellias in a mixture of peat and loam, both potted 
firmly. Plants sent here from Belgium or elsewhere appear as 
vigorous as English plants, though I doubt if they are as suitable 
for this climate. We are told that firm potting adds to the life 
of plants. I have heard that the ground in New Holland is not 
nearly so firm as it has been represented to be, yet many can 
remember how firm the Barnet plants were potted in days past, 
and they were all that could be desired. 
When at Chatsworth last August I was astounded at the mag¬ 
nificent specimens of Chrysanthemums. I inquired what was the 
treatment and how they were potted. “ As firmly as possible,” 
was the reply. These were the finest specimens of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums many others besides myself had seen ; some of them were 
4 feet high and as much in diameter, though never stopped. With 
this treatment many growers would not agree, though when seeing 
a large quantity potted at one of our leading nurseries I asked 
the reason they were potted so firmly, and I was told it was to 
keep them short-jointed. I remember asking Mr. Joseph Speed, 
whom many of your old readers will recollect, the nearest rule he 
could lay down for potting. His answer was, “According to the 
size of the roots.” He said, though there are many exceptions, 
the finer the roots the firmer the potting required—that is to say, 
plants with very fine mots need very firm potting ; those with 
medium-size roots require medium potting ; and those with large 
roots light potting. I have been told by one who ranks among 
the first of British gardeners that in ninety cases out of a hundred 
he pots firmly, and his plants are among some of the finest in 
the country. Now as this is a subject in which many are inter¬ 
ested perhaps some of your practical readers will state their 
experience.—E. J. Speed. 
EupAtoritjm purpureum.—O ne of the most distinct and 
imposing plants in my herbaceous collection at the present time 
is the above-mentioned Composite. The specimen, or rather clump, 
is about 6 feet high and equally as much in diameter, and each of 
the numerous stems terminates in a large corymb or panicle of 
small purplish-coloured capitula. It occupies a position at the 
back of a long border, and being situated at a bend is not only 
prominent but really ornamental, the stems being densely clothed 
