84 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 6. 
| to experiment on the two plants again, to prove the 
point under different circumstances; for after all the 
dissertations in the world, the natural basis of the 
affinity of plants can only be proved under the opera- 
] tion of natural laws, by the art and mystery of the 
■ cross-breeder. Apart from this, it is often very difficult 
to say what really separates families and sectious of 
plants from each other, or what degree of importance 
we ought to give to the characters on which botanists 
! uphold their separation; if two plants cross together, 
! as the Cheiranth and Erisymum are said to have done in 
! this instance, then the two must be included in the 
same genus, notwithstanding all the logic and botany 
J on earth ; then, let us try again to see who are right, the 
cross-breeders or the philosophers. 
But all the crosses in the catalogue must not draw 
my attention from Mr. Jackson’s nursery, till 1 notice 
' some more of the many line things I saw there. He 
. has the Double-crimson Peach, and the Double-white one, 
and thinks more of them even than I do. He has also 
lots of another plant which half the gardeners in the 
country—myself among the rest—do not know how to 
use — the Tnjmalium odoratissimum, a strong woody 
plant, introduced from New Holland fifteen years ago, 
and the way to make the best of it is to plant it out 
against a conservatory-wall, where the frost can be kept 
from it; the next best place for it would be against a 
pillar in a cool conservatory or common greenhouse, to be 
treated like a Plumbago capense. After that, as a large 
specimen plant for the conservatory, to come in with the 
China Azaleas, in April and May, but out on a wall it 
would last probably to August, as did the Rinclwsper- 
mum Jasminoides with me last summer; the two were 
in excellent bloom and condition before the Horticul¬ 
tural Society, on the 20th of April, from a cool house in 
their own garden, or rather our own garden, as Sir 
Walter Scott's factotum used to say about the baronet’s 
j family ; for if I can pay up my yearly subscriptions, 1 
! shall always have the privilege of calling the Chiswick 
J garden, “ our garden.” Even without the aid of a hot 
' wall, these two plants may be planted out against walls : 
or pillars all the autumn. 
When 1 hear or read about a new plant, I always [ 
want to know something about it which will assist tbe 1 
memory in minding the name, and that is the reason 
why I try to give an idea of such and such plants to 
others. Now, almost any gardener will know what kind 
j of plant the Trymalium is, when I say it looks like tire 
! old blue Ceanothus, if clothed in the ilowers of Spircea \ 
i Japonica, only a little more loose in the spikes, and all 
the spikes not so upright. Cantua depcndens looked 
! better with Mr. Jackson than I have seen it,yet; it 
j grows and strikes like a weed, but we have no hopes of 
; it as a bedding-plant, although one of the finest things 
that can be seen while it lasts. This nursery has been 
| celebrated for many years for Gape Heaths, and thoy 
j really look splendid just now; I saw lots of the spring¬ 
flowering ones, and of Epacrises, cut in just as Mr. 
Fish has been advising lately. Most gardeners give a 
j little extra heat to Epacrises after cutting, but here they 
get none, and no plants can look better. Every bud, 
; down to the surface of the pot, is in growth. Mr. Jack- 
| son sent a large consignment of young healthy heaths to 
North America this spring, packed not unlike the way i 
I recommended for Australia; and I am promised to hear 
of the result. I live not far from Mr. J ackson, and now 
I I have got acquainted with him, and access to his 
grounds and houses, I shall often drop in, like Paul Pry, 
and see what new plants and new methods are coming 
j out from time to time. I had no idea that such a large 
stock ol orchids and stove plants were grown hereabouts, 
j as 1 sa ) v there; but the best gardeners from the country 
| never fail to see things in London different from the 
Londoners, so 1 shall not rest satisfied till I see every 
nursery within ten—may be twenty—miles of St. Paul's. 
This will suit me better now, having spent so much 
money in building, than driving all over the country 
to see the gardens of the wealthy, as I first proposed 
and promised myself. D. Beaton. 
List of plants exhibited by Mr. Jackson, Nurseryman, 
Kingston-on-Thames, before the Horticultural Society, on 
the 20tli of April, 1852: —Ancectochilus selaceas, most beau¬ 
tiful; A. setaeeus pictus, fine; A. argentcus, two varieties oi. 
Ccntrosolcena picta, quite new. Maranta albo-lineala ; M. vit- 
iata ; M. glumacea. Panclcmus variegatus , tine; P. moschata, 
another and larger variety. Dichorisandru thyrsiflora, a 
new form of a good old plant. Goodyera discolor. Draaena 
nobile, a tine new plant; D. Umnnalis. Tradescantia zebrina. 
Caladium bicolor ; C. atropurpureum ; C. nymphtefolium, the 
three might be tried in open ponds, in July, August, and 
September. TiUandsia zebrina. Dieffenbactria costata, the 
Dumb Cane ( Caladium seguinum of The Cottage Gardeners’ 
Dictionary). Tradescantia discolor. Graptophyllum ( Juslicia ) 
horlense; G. picta and varieyata. Kraut hem ton Icuconcrvnm, 
very tine, new. Aspidistra lurida, curious. Clarita sinensis. 
Camphylobotrys discolor. Bartolonia maculata. Adluitoda, 
good and new. JEchmea zebrina and picta. Crotonpictum and 
variegatum. 
CHINESE CHRYSANTHEMU MS. 
I once knew an old gentleman who prided himselt on 
wearing a coat of a particular colour, and made always in 
the same particular way. Peculiarities are seldom aim¬ 
less ; and a rather philosophic clothier used to say, 
that a goodly portion of self-esteem was enshrined 
beneath that quaint-looking garment. Be that as it 
may, the gentleman himself used to boast, that without 
ever thinking of such a thing, he had Jke times during 
his lifetime found himself decked out in the very pink 
of fashion. The fact is not without its instruction in 
a gardening point of view. In clinging to plants we 
loved to tend in our boyhood, we might be wrong in 
disregarding altogether fresh claimants tor popular | 
favour; but we should be quite as much in the wrong 
if, in prosecuting the new loves, we were forgetful 
of the old. “ The course of true love,” as applied to 
rational beings, never had more ups and downs than 
classes of plants have experienced, by great attention at 
one time, and complete neglect at another. Only perse¬ 
vere long enough with your old favourites and you will 
not only be in the fashion by-and-by, but some fine i 
specimens, striking by then- very rarity, will make you | 
the instrument of introducing again your favourites to 
popular favour. Would that there was more of the 
spirit of that old gentleman among gardeners and the 
proprietors of gardens, then would our gardens possess 
more variety. Alas! that the Almacks of fashion in 
gardening should be so scrupulously followed when 
propounding the hind and the form of the beautiful in 
vegetable nature alone worthy of admiration. 
In our own short practice, we have witnessed several 
phases of the estimation in which Chrysanthemums were 
held. Some twenty years ago, thanks to the late Mr. 
Sabine and the Horticultural Society, the care bestowed 
upon them in many places could not be surpassed in 
the present time, nor do I think the cultivation in 
general at all improved. During that period, there 
have been several ebbs and flows, the former preponde¬ 
rating, until the flow has again decidedly the ascend 
ancy, owing to some lovers of their beauties showing 
fine* specimens of plants and flowers, and thus making 
them again fashionable. What are termed more perfect 
forms in the flower may now be obtained; but I question 
if the finest forms will produce such gorgeous effects as 
the superb white, tasselled white, tassellcd yellow, &e., 
of the olden time, but which are now scarcely, if at all, 
obtainable. 
In some of the earlier volumes, the Chrysanthemum 
