January 14, 1S88. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
29 
ostentatious wealth it became the means of opposing nature ; and the more 
it traversed the march of the latter, the more nobility thought its power was 
demonstrated. 
Canals measured by the line were introduced instead of meandering 
streams, and terrasses were hoisted a'oft in opposition to the facile slopes 
that imperceptibly unite the valley to the hill. Balustrades defended these 
precipitate and dangerous elevations, and flights of steps rejoined them to 
the subjacent flat from which the terrass had been dug. Yases and sculp¬ 
ture were added to these unnecessary balconies, and statues furnished the 
lifeless spot with mimic representations of the excluded sons of men. Thus 
difficulty and expense were the constituent parts of those sumptuous and 
selfish solitudes ; and every improvement that was made was but a step 
farther from nature. The tricks of waterworks to wet the unwary, not to 
refresh the panting spectator, and parterres embroidered in patterns like a 
petticoat, were but the childish endeavours of fashion and novelty to recon¬ 
cile greatness to what it had surfeited on. 
To crown these impotent displays of false taste, the sheers were applied 
to the lovely wildness of form with which nature had distinguished each 
various species of tree and shrub. 
The venerable Oak, the romantic Beech, the useful Elm, even the 
aspiring circuit of the Lime, the regular round of the Chestnut, and the 
almost moulded Orange tree, were corrected by such fantastic admirers of 
symmetry. The compass and square were of more use in plantations than 
the nurseryman. The measured walk, the quincunx, and the etoile imposed 
their unsatisfying sameness on every royal and noble garden. Trees were 
headed and their sides pared away ; many French groves seem green chests 
■set upon poles. Seats of marble, arbours and summer-houses terminated 
every visto, and symmetry, even where the space was too large to permit 
,-tts being remarked at one view, was so essential, that, as Pope observed :— 
“ . . . . Each alley has a brother, 
And half the garden just reflects the other.” 
Knots of flowers were more defensibly subjected to the same regularity. 
•Leisure, as Milton expressed it, 
“ In trim gardens took his pleasure.” 
In the garden of Marshal de Biron at Paris, consisting of fourteen acres 
every walk is buttoned on each side bylines of flower-pots which succeed 
in their seasons. When I saw it there were nine thousand pots of Asters, 
or La Heine Marguerite. 
We do not precisely know what our ancestors meant by a bower, it was 
probably an arbour; sometimes it meant the whole frittered enclosure, and 
in one instance it certainly included a labyrinth. Rosamund’s bower was 
indisputably of that kind, though whether composed of walls or hedges we 
■cannot determine. A square and a round labyrinth were so capital 
ingredients of a garden formerly that in Du Cerceau’s architecture, who 
lived in the time of Charles IX. and Henry III., there is scarce a ground 
plot without one of each. The enchantment of antique appellations have 
consecrated a pleasing idea of a royal residence, of which we now regret 
the extinction. Havering in the Bower, the jointure of many dowager 
queens, conveys to us the notion of a romantic scene. 
NOTES ON SOWING EARLY PEAS. 
Some recommend sowing Peas in November, and many are successful 
with them, but I cannot understand why sowing in succession should not 
go on in December, January, February, and onwards. The soil and 
atmosphere are not much warmer in November than in the months 
named, and the seed germinates as freely, and the plants grow as quickly, 
in January as they do in November. For this reason I am not very 
favourable to November-sown Peas. They are often ready for use earlier 
than any which are sown in March or thereabouts, but they are no earlier 
than January-sown ones, and I am as much in favour of sowing now as 
an November. The plants from seed put in now will be quite as high by 
March as any of them, and while November-sown Peas often come to a 
standstill in January or February, those sown later generally growing 
slowly. 
Where there was seed sown in November I would recommend several 
•rows more to be sown now, and where sowing was omitted before, they 
may still be put in with the full understanding that no time has been 
lost. Only the round-seeded varieties, such as William I. and Ringleader, 
must be sown thus early. The wrinkles will not bear the cold damp 
soil, and should never be sown until March at least. If a good row of 
Ringleader is sown the first or second week in January, and the same 
early in February, the young crops in March and onwards will be as 
satisfactory as anyone can desire. Rich, rather light soil, suits them best 
now, and a sunny position is very desirable. Many devote a great deal of 
time with much space and heat to raising early Peas under glass in 
the spring months, and so long as they are kept under glass they go on 
well, but when planted out in the open soil they are almost sure to receive 
a check, and this is sometimes so severe, that by May the under-glass- 
raised Peas are the worst in the garden. Altogether, in my opinion, this 
system does not pay, and it ought to be abandoned in favour of early 
sowing in the open air. We have over and over again tried to do great 
things with these forced Peas, but I cannot remember a single instance 
where they were really first-class, especially in quantity, and every year 
we feel more and more convinced that to give the best attention to those 
sown early in the open is the best way of securing abundance of eaily 
.pods and profitable crops.—A Kitchen Gardener. 
SESBANIA GRANDIFLORA. 
Under the genus Sesbania, which is included in the great family 
Xieguminoste near Swainsonia and Clianthus, are grouped ten or a dozen 
species that are little known in gardens, though one of them, S. tegyptiaca 
has been in cultivation for 200 years. They are mostly yellow-flowered 
shrubs or annuals, with long pinnate leaves, and have a rather graceful, 
ornamental appearance. Much the finest of all, however, is Sesbania 
grandiflora, which is represented in fig. 7, kindly lent us by Messrs. 
Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley. This has flowers considerably 
larger than any other species, and being pure white they are very hand¬ 
some. It is one of the four Sesbanias found in Australia, but differs so 
much in the size of the flowers and in the proportionately narrower petals 
that some have assigned it separate generic rank under the name of Agati. 
In the “ Flora Australiensis,” however, Mr. G. Bentham states that it only 
differs in these characters, and that in all other respects it is identical with 
the Sesbanias, amongst which he places it. In a note appended to the 
description given in the work named, a red variety is mentioned as follows 
—“ The red-flowered variety, S. coccinea, or Agati eoccinea, is not amongst 
Eig. 7.—Sesbania grandiflora. 
the Australian species I have seen. Both varieties are frequent in India 
but perhaps only about villages and other places where they have been 
planted; they both appear to be really indigenous in the Archipelago.” 
It is also interesting, as noted by Mr. Bentham, that* 1 of the four Austra¬ 
lian species three are the commonest Asiatic ones, two of them extending 
also over tropical Africa,” and only one, S. simpliciuscula, is confined to 
Australia. 
S. grandiflora is a native of the western part of the great southern con¬ 
tinent, and in consequence succeeds under cultivation in a greenhouse 
temperature. The soil should be moderately light, an admixture of leaf 
soil or peat with turfy loam and sand being suitable. 
GLADIOLUS BRENCHLEYENSIS. 
There are few gardens where this useful old favourite is not grown 
often in bedding arrangements, but more generally in the mixed border. 
Another way in which I find it useful is as a pot plant, and I have 
often wondered why it is so little grown as such, especially for use in 
“ groups for effect ” at summer exhibitions, where its brightly coloured 
spikes have a telling effect associated with Palms, Ferns, Crotons, 
Caladiums, and other ornamental-foliage as well as floifflmig plants. 
The culture is not difficult, but the time of potting must be guided by 
