December 8, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
497 
observe Mr. Wo 1 ley Dod complaining about the climatic conditions of 
his immediate surroundings, but regardless of these, as well as the 
uncanny nature of the soil, he has with much patience and labour 
achieved a success which is rare. 
Dotted about are some charming pieces of rockwork, happily accom¬ 
modating the choicest rarities in unusual health, and mostly in good 
masses or colonies, so that every ledge or nook is replete with interest, 
the mere enumeration of which would crowd out too much other useful 
matter from the Journal. Special a'tention is given to certain series of 
plants ; for instance, Liliums, Aquilegias, Alpine Dianthuses, and Cam- 
variety of colour and form of flower, of course consistent with the vagaries 
of Columbines. Short, medium, and long-spurred, European aDd New 
World forms have united to produce a most interesting and beautiful 
series of intermediates. The species coerulea, vulgaris, cbrysanthus, 
californicus, canadensis, and others have all been utilised, and the result 
is a progeny alike for its differentiations and extreme interest, while for 
the hardy flower garden we can scarcely recommend anything so heartily. 
We noticed the true, but scarce, A. Skinneri and A. canadensis in very 
strong condition. Mr. Dod thinks this is the chief factor in producing 
the shades of red and orange predominating in many of his seedlings. 
Fig. 75.—Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, K.C.S.I., F.R.S. 
panulas, to say nothing of the most charming effect produced by the 
Poppies. Rarely have I seen a more striking example of flower garden¬ 
ing than a good-sized piece of rockwork pretty thickly dotted with most 
floriferous patches of the different varieties of Papaver nudicaule, amongst 
which goodly numbers of P. umbrosum were distributed, with its deep 
crimson flowers in association with the yellow, which, and shades of 
orange-scarlet of nudicaule, presented a unique picture. 
AQUILEGIAS. 
Turning, then, to the Columbines, we have a striking example of the 
value of these flowers of all gardens, provided they are liberally treated 
and rigidly selected. Every season the best flowers are selected and 
crossed if considered necessary for seed-saving, as a fresh batch is raised 
every season. The young plants are put in beds of rich soil early in the season, 
and by the following spring they are strong enough to bloom profusely. 
Although they were just past their best at the time of my visit, yet there 
was abundance of evidence of the high pitch reached, there being every 
CAMPANULAS. 
Amongst the Campanulas was a most instructive series of forms of 
C. rotundifolia, revealing much variation both as regards size of flowers, 
habit, and times of flowering. One form was especially fine, produe'ng 
very large bells ; indeed, apart from the others close by it, we might be 
pardoned for regarding it as some other species. Of course this series 
included some other so-called distinct species from southern and 
middle Europe, if my memory serves me well, but there was essentially 
no distinction between them and our wild C. rotundifolia, when studied 
in connection with what are evidently intermediates. There were also 
grand masses of C. abietina upon a small rockery in full bloom. To me 
there was a mystery about this, as I failed to get it to bloom satisfactorily, 
and have noticed it in at least three different collections flowering only 
very indifferently ; but here the tufts appeared to be all flower-stems. T1 e 
bunches of stems were at least a foot through, well furnished with the 
large light blue bells, and is certainly one of the best species for the 
rockery, I believe it was distributed by Gusmus of Austria. The rare 
