138 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Angnst 18, 1888, 
patches, or even extensive tracts. Occasionally a single specimen 
will develope to unaccustomed proportions, but general effect has 
often to be considered, and this is best accomplished by the group¬ 
ing method. One example of the style is afforded by a plant that 
is not well known in gardens, though it might usefully take the 
place of several other plants of the great Compositse family. This 
is Ursinia anthemoides, a Cape plant, which has also been ranked 
under the genus Sphenogyne. The flower heads are 1^ to 2 inches 
in diameter, with narrow, spreading, even, bright yellow ray florets 
and a narrow shining black zone at their base surrounding the 
central tubular florets. The leaves are finely cut in a bipinnate 
manner, slightly glaucous, and the plant is 12 to 14 inches high. It 
is both showy and graceful, and no doubt would be found useful 
for cutting. An allied plant, Ursinia pulchra (Sphenogyne speciosa) 
is similar, but the flower heads are somewhat larger, the leaves 
being green, this apparently being the same species as that labelled 
Ursinia speciosa in the herbaceous grounds. 
The strange-looking plant with an equally strange name — 
Statice Suworowi—covers a little plot of ground in one of the 
recesses, its long close cylindrical spikes of rosy flowers twisting 
and curling about like so many floral snakes. It cannot be said to 
be beautiful, but it is peculiar, and is worth growing for the dis¬ 
tinctness of its characters. Calceolaria mexicana has a good-sized 
recess-bed devoted to it with capital results, the slender graceful 
habit and foliage, with the abundant delicate pale yellow Howers j 
giving it an admirable appearance. It has also been tried in the 
flower garden, not in the formal beds in the broad walk, but near 
some by-walks, and with satisfactory results. The leaves are 
pinnate and serrate, the stems reddish, the flowers with proportion¬ 
ately large lower lips and very pale clear yellow. 
In the “ Herbaceous grounds,” that is, the department where the 
hardy plants are arranged in their natural order, flowers are very 
numerous, and nearly every bed would furnish ample material for an 
article. I can, however, only give passing attention to a few. The 
great Composite family is as usual in the summer months strongly 
represented by flowering plants, but one specially arrested attention 
as little known in gardens yet likely to be of considerable service. It 
is Calendula pluvialis, which the label also informs us is the same 
as Dimorphotheca pluvialis, popularly known in some gardens as the 
Cape Marigold, and in the matter of euphony there is no doubt 
that the adopted generic name will be preferred to the discarded 
one. Botanists we know have grave responsibilities in assigning 
plants to their correct position, or in giving them new names, but 
it is unfortunate that they seldom pay much regard to the 
elegance of the names bestowed, and so we get such terrible titles 
as Ostrowskya applied to a beautiful plant that will certainly 
become a favourite in gardens, yet we can only expect the name to 
be distorted and misspelled. In M. Godefroy-Lebeuf’s paper “ Le 
Jardin” for the present month the illustration of Ostrowskya 
magnifica recently published in the Journal of Horticulture is repro 
duced (without acknowledgment, by the way) and in some remarks 
accompanying the figure it is said “ In France they will never say 
Ostrowskya, they will commence by saying Otrokya, then they will 
suppress the 0, and will finish by selling the plant under the name 
Ti’okia,” and most will admit that the abbreviation w r ould be an 
acceptable one. But I was starting to say something about the Cape 
Marigold, which is an annual that deserves to be as widely known 
as the common Marigold, for it grows readily in any ordinary soil, 
seeds sown in early spring producing plants that flower freely at the 
present time. The flower heads are 2 inches in diameter, the ray 
florets substantial, white on the upper surface and purplish beneath, 
the central florets yellow, with a slight purplish zone at the base of 
the ray florets. The plants are 12 to 15 inches high, rather com¬ 
pact in habit, and the number of flower heads produced should 
render them useful for cutting. 
Still wandering amongst the beds of Composite, some so-called 
Everlasting Flowers are noted, such as Antennaria margaritacea 
with numerous small white flower heads and whitish leaves ; the 
elegant Helipterum roseum, with narrow glaucous leaves and pale', 
to deep rose flower heads ; Ammobium alatum grandiflorum, with 
strangely winged stems and white heads of flowers, and the indis¬ 
pensable graceful Rhodanthe Manglesi. All these are excellent 
for cutting and drying, together with Helichrysum bracteatum in 
many varieties. The double Achillea Ptarmica is a useful garden 
plant, the flower heads small, neat, and pure white, capital for 
cutting. Crepis rubra, with pale rosy blush flower heads, in the 
style of the Cornflower, is also worth a place. 
Turning to another family, the Phloxworts—Polemoniace®—• 
very attractive are the graceful little annual Gilias, mostly Cali¬ 
fornian plants that are not too frequent in gardens. Several 
species are flowering, but four of noteworthy merit are the follow¬ 
ing : G. micrantha, 6 inches high, small bright yellow flowers and 
short linear leaves ; G. tricolor, 18 inches high, flowers white edged 
rose, a central zone of deep purple, and a yellow base, the leaves 
pinnate ; G. androsacea, flowers white or faintly purple tinted,, 
petals spreading, leaves long, linear, and hairy ; and G. capitata,. 
flowers smedl, blue, sessile, in dense umbel-like heads, leaves, 
pinnately divided. This plant is much taller than the others, 
running up to 2 or 3 feet. 
But these notes will occupy sufficient space for one week, and 
will keep a little in reserve for another letter. —Merton. 
CABBAGES FOR SPRING. 
The production of Cabbages in quantity, and as early as 
possible in the spring, being important with us, though sometimes, 
difficult of accomplishment, has tended to increase the interest with 
which I have read “A Kitchen Gardener’s” excellent remarks 
thereon, also the succeeding judicious observations of Mr. G. 
Hilton, and in support of the latter’s contention that seed must 
be sown earlier than August to suit some districts and seasons, I 
beg to offer one or two instances of my own experience. 
I may state that our seasons are comparatively backward, the 
position being an elevated one (600 feet above sea level) fully 
exposed, with a shallow soil resting on a cold clayey subsoil. Our 
usual practice had been to sow about the 25th of July, and then to 
plant out as soon as the seedlings could be obtained large enough fc r- 
the purpose. Circumstances, however, have twice occurred causing 
a deviation from this rule, the first being in 1885-0, when in July 
of 1885 we planted late spring-sown Cabbages on a rather poor 
quarter for autumn cutting. These came on badly, only making 
extra large plants by winter, when it was decided that they should 
be cut for use on any occasion that other greens ran short. In the 
result they were allowed to stand through the winter, which had 
been severe, and had dealt hardly with the ordinary plantings, and 
I then observed to my surprise that they looked like forming 
hearts, so they were left, and we had 3000 splendid Cabbages a 
month earlier than our neighbours. About 1 per cent, only bolted. 
The second instance occurred last year. The drought and the 
flea had conspired against the usual July sowing to such a degree 
that I could only count upon five thousand instead of twelve thousai (I 
plants. In this dilemma I turned my attention to April-sown plants, 
which owing to the same reason had remained small, standing, 
thickly together. With my previous experience I did not hesitate 
to avail myself of this welcome supply, and the result this spring 
has been a magnificent bed of luxuriant Cabbages, not one in 500 
of which bolted, but formed grand shaped hearts, such as compelled 
the admiration of those who saw them. 
This year I reasoned that with such a continuous excessive 
rainfall it would probably require a longer season than usual to. 
prepare the plants for their autumn quarters. I therefore sowed 
early in June. The seeds germinated very slowly, and the,process 
of development into the rough leaf took a long time, so that ih* 
plants are still somewhat small, and are giving promise of being 
ready for planting by the end of this or the beginning of nex 1> 
month. I choose Battersea always to stand over the winter.— 
R. Catt, Metropolitan Asylum, Caterham. 
WET WEATHER FLOWERS. 
VIOLAS. 
Rain falling almost daily for weeks, and often heavily, rendering 
the month of July one of the wettest ever known, has afforded an 
opportunity for testing the wet-resisting power of outdoor flowers, 
and it would be interesting and useful if correspondents in various 
parts of the country would make known those that have been the 
