78 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 3. 
narrow leaves, and quite woody at the bottom. The 
flowers are not unlike those of Calceolaria bicolor, but 
smaller; a light sulphur-colour. If this were to be 
crossed with only the more woody kinds which we now 
possess, an improved race of bedders would soon appear, 
and be very useful. 
Mr. Henderson, of the Pine Apple Place Nursery, 
sent a little specimen of the new yellow-flowering 
Begonia xyanthina, and it was remarked how richly this 
family is now in distinct colours—all the shades from 
white to pink, rose and deep red, cinnamon and yellow; 
and as they are readily crossed, these colours and shades 
can be blended together, and other new shades may 
thus be produced in great variety. 
In a collection of more than two dozens of cut flowers 
of Annuals, from the garden of the Society, was an 
excellent new Coreopsis called coronaria, with the 
flowers much in the way of those of C. Drummondi, but 
with the eye streaked all round, with brown markings 
like some of the older ones. If the habit of this plant 
is as good as that of Drummondi it will be a useful 
addition to the family for bedding. This puts me in 
mind, that I saw quantities of a new variety of Coreopsis 
bicolor, at Claremont, this season, which looks in leaf and 
flower exactly like the old one, but the plant is only a 
few inches high; this is a rare good addition for the 
Flower-garden. Mr. Mallison had the seeds of it from 
France, but it must soon come into general cultivation. 
There was a very curious pot-plant in the collection 
from the society, called Perilla japonica, of a dingy 
purple-colour all over, with the looks and smell of some 
soft herb for seasoning in the kitchen. It would make 
a nice rock-plant in summer, but of its flowers no good 
or bad can be said, as they are hardly to be seen. 
Another plant they sent to show how ugly the flowers 
are this was the new straw-coloured Tropceolum, called 
after some foreigner (Shuurmanianum), to whom the 
Society must owe some grudge or another, or they would 
never have taken such pains to insult its namesake. 
Two new annuals, which I mentioned at the time of 
the July show, were much praised, and deservedly so, as 
neutral bedders that keep in bloom from June till the 
frost came. They are little camomile-like plants, called 
Cenia formosa and turbinata; one with yellow, and one 
with white flowers ; but the outside florets are wanting 
in both, and it is only the daisv-centre-like flowers, 
coming as thick as grass, that give”them effect—first in 
coloured buds not bigger than a pin’s head, and swelling 
out to the size of a Batchelor’s Button—they are also 
good rock plants, and no doubt the Society has saved 
seeds of them enough for all the members next year. 
I hey sent a beautiful specimen of the yellow Pompone 
Chrysanthemum, called Hendersonii, the earliest of the 
race, and the only one brought out on this occasion. 
GypsophylaSteveni was also highly spoken of in the 
lecture—a white flowering one. 
Fruit— There was a great competition in fruit, par¬ 
ticularly Pears and Apples. There were ten competitors 
with Pears, and seven for green Peas in pods; Her 
Majesty’s fruit taking the first prize by long odds. 
Some of the Pears were excellent; but really, as to fruit, 
were it not for the look of the thing, no out-of-door fruit ! 
is worth dishing for table this season. Here I tasted 
some of the best October Pears, at least, I tried to do so, but 
there was no taste that I could make out at all; but as it 
is some consolation to know that we are not alone in a 
d ilemma, I must mention, that Mr. Solomons, of Co vent 
Garden, exhibited splendid looking Pears from the south 
of France, but they were not a whit better flavoured than 
if they had come from “ the haughs of Cromdale.” Mr. 
Rivers, the great Rose-grower, sent a tray of Pears to 
show the difference between this, that, and the other, 
when grown in different ways; as, for instance, Marie 
Louise, from a wall; a standard and a dwarf or pyramidal 
tree ; a good idea in ordinary seasons. Most fruit sent 
to table, and Pears more particularly, in large families, 
having a written ticket on the dish, giving the name, and 
Mr. Rivers’ plan, would be of additional interest. Suppose 
you have two match dishes of Pears, &c., and one is 
marked from a wall of such and such aspect, the other 
from a standard or pyramid, and so forth ; it is wonder- 
ful how discussions thus raised save the wine after dinner. 
There were some good-looking Pine Apples. The 
Barbarossa Grapes were splendid, from Mr. Butcher, of 
Stratford-on-Avon, who first sent it out. A large dish of 
Black Morocco Grapes would make a good advertisement 
in a fruiterer’s window—all that this kind is good for, as 
we were told indirectly. There was a new seedling White 
Grape from Mr. Bushby, Stockwood Park, with a letter, 
saying that it was a cross from the Black Hamburgh, by 
the pollen of the Sweet Water, applied in 1849, which 
some in the room very much doubted; hut that is nothing, 
here or there; for the Grape is really of first-rate quality. 
There were not enough for all to taste, and it is not good 
for gardeners to scramble for fruit anywhere, much"less 
before their betters, so 1 lost the chance; but I have 
great faith in the statement made, that it is the best 
seedling Grape ever tasted in that room. 
There were six Onions from R. Crawshay, Esq., of 
Crosby Hall, Surrey, as fine as ever came from Portugal, 
or anywhere else, and Mr. Crawshay wrote to say, that 
the produce, at the same rate as his bed, would be just 
twenty tons of Onions to the acre; and that in a season 
that was “all winter” in his part of Surrey; but here, 
about Kingston, we had nine fine days this summer. 
D. Beaton. 
SOFT-WOODED PLANTS. 
IMPATTENS (OR BALSAMINA) LATIFOLIA. 
A person who had been in the habit of growing the 
Garden Balsam well, both in doors and out, could not, 
in investigating the plant and flower, believe that the 
above is a Balsam at all. If the flower had been large 
and double, there would have been no doubt on the 
matter, especially if it had possessed crackling, twisting, 
ripe seed-pods, which it has never done with us. 
Florist, however, though he was, he resolved to give 
this single-blooming species a place iu his greenhouse 
and border. Fond as our florist friends, in general, are 
ot double flowers, they are by no means insensible to 
the beauty ot single ones. Not along ago, I was asked 
anxiously for cuttings of the Hibiscus Rosa sinensis, 
but they were at once declined when known to be 
double. There is no analogy, however, between the 
superior beauties of the single Hibiscus over the double; 
and the single Impatiens latifolia over a fine double 
Impatiens hortensis, or Garden Balsam ; and yet, when 
its continuous blooming during the summer months is 
taken into consideration, there are many worse things 
petted and cared for. 
It is now seldom we see such interesting kinds as 
Impatiens longicornu, with its long-horned spur, or 
Impatiens glanduligera, with its strong, shrubby cha¬ 
racter, and its purple flowers. Treating such plants, 
cither in border or pots, in such rich soil as we treated 
the Garden Balsam, the leaves and stems were too gross 
to leave room enough for the flowers to show themselves. 
The same remark applies to latifolia, with its pinkish- 
red flowers, though far from being so strong in habit as 
glanduligera. Grown in poor soil, out-of-doors, in a 
sheltered place, after June, or inside, in a pot, it blooms 
very freely, and is rather a pretty object for the green¬ 
house-shelf in summer. 
Preserving and Propagating .—Like the whole species 
that come from India, the plant will stand little or no 
host, and yet, like many of its congeners that enjoy a 
