891 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 23. 
they fought, too, ami also had torn the sheets, blankets, and 
all into two halves, and each of them took his half, and 
made a bed for himself. That was not a whit more daft 
than having the only two ilower-beds on the centre of a 
small pieceof grass, or a single bed, anywhere but in the 
middle. 
The next step is, when there is room for only three beds, 
how are we to dispose of them ? Nothing is more easy ; it 
they had to stand as close as three in a bed, one of them 
would, and should, be in the middle, and the other two op¬ 
posite each other; but, as pieces of ground that would 
admit of this disposition are very rare to be met with, we 
seldom see three beds anywhere, or, if so, only as a breach 
on regularity. 
A four-sided piece of ground, if ever so small, will admit 
of four beds, or of five beds, according to the taste of the 
owner; and the two ways would be quite regular ; one bed 
iu the very centre, and one in each of the other. Here we 
have arrived at our aristocratic blocks, each of them are of 
five beds, a centre one and two side ones, the rest of the 
beds are mere accompaniments, and might be of half-a- 
dozen shapes, and still be in pairs, or double pairs, and so on. 
The still unascertained fate of Sir John Franklin and 
his companions, and the exploring expeditions still em¬ 
ployed in endeavouring to ascertain more information 
concerning their route, and whereabout, casts more 
even than the usual amount of interest over the Arctic 
Regions. We were glad, therefore, to avail ourselves of 
a recent opportunity of obtaining some authentic par¬ 
ticulars of those latitudes, which are associated in our 
minds from childhood with no other ideas than endless 
snow and ice, and with days and nights alternately of 
months duration. 
We especially sought for an account of the plants of 
that dreary region, and though we failed in attaining 
anything original, yet we were referred to a work from 
which we have derived what we required, and much 
more that is amusing and useful. 
The publication referred to, is Dr. Sutherland’s 
“Journal of a Voyage to Baffin’s Bay and Barrow’s 
Straits,” in the years 1850 and 1851. 
From this we learn that the land plants of the Arctic 
circle, though specimens of them, all in a growing state, 
can he contained in a box two feet square, yet amount 
in number to forty-five ascertained species. They are 
as follows:—• 
Ranunculus frigidus Willd. Assistance Bay. 
Papaver nudicaule L. Assistance Bay. 
Cocblearia fenestralis Br. Assistance Bay. 
Parrya arctica Br. Assistance Bay. 
Cardamine bellidifolia De. Assistance Bay. 
Braya glabella Richardson. Assistance Bay. 
Draba rupestris Br. Assistance Bay. 
„ glacialis Adams, var. Assistance Bay. 
„ alpina L. Assistance Bay. 
Arenaria Rossii ? Br. Assistance Bay. 
„ rubella Hook. Assistance Bay. 
Cerastium alpinum L. var. glabatum. Assistance Bay. 
Stellaria longipes Goldie. Northumberland Inlet.* 
Lychnis apetala L. Assistance Bay. 
Potentilla nana Lehm. Berry Island and other islands in 
Davis’ Straits. 
Dryas integrifolia L. Assistance Bay, Berry Island, and 
adjacent islands. 
Cruciferse ? 
Epilobium latifolium L. Northumberland Inlet. 
* Known also by the name Hogarth Sound, which waa given by 
Captain Parry, its original discoverer. 
It is not the shape of a bed, or a block of beds, that one 
ought to be so particular about, for there never was, and 
never shall be, a set rule for the shape of flower-beds. It is 
the disposal of the beds themselves, and the way the colours 
will tell best, that we have, all of us, to learn so much yet. 
Then we gardeners know very well, from our practice, that 
it is quite impossible to dispose of the colours to the best 
advantage unless the beds are so placed as to suit the extent 
of such and such a colour, in such and such places. All the 
world are not yet agreed as to the best disposal of the colours 
in flowers, but if they did so agree, without the beds and 
sizes of beds were laid down something like in due propor¬ 
tion to the colours and the heights of the plants that are fit 
to plant in a fine garden, the agreement would be of little 
practical value. Those who take their notions of the value or 
effect of colours from what the painters say of them, may or 
may not be all wrong, according to the knowledge of the said 
painter in flower colours. Even cut flowers may lead the 
best painter in the world astray as to the effect they would 
produce with the leaves, style of growth, and shade of the 
living plants. Bractice alone will ever make a good arranger j 
of a flower-garden. D. Beaton. 
Saxifraga pauciflora? Stev. Bushnan Island. 
„ oppositifolia L. Assistance Bay, Berry Island. 
„ nivalis L. Assistance Bay. 
„ cernua L. Northumberland Inlet. 
„ ccespitosa L. Assistance Bay. 
„ flagellaris Willd. Assistance Bay. 
„ tricuspidata De. Northumberland Inlet. 
„ liirculus De. Northumberland Inlet. 
Pyrola rotundifolia L. Northumberland Inlet. 
Cassiope tetragona Don. Bushnan Island. 
Vaccinium Vitis Idsea L. Bushnan Island. 
Arctostaphylos alpina Spr. Northumberland Inlet. 
Polygonum viviparum L. Assistance Bay. 
Oxyria reniformis L. Assistance Bay. 
Empetrum nigrum L. Northumberland Inlet. 
Vaccinium uliginosum L. Northumberland Inlet. 
Salix cordifolia Parsh. Assistance Bay. 
„ arctica Pall. Assistance Bay. 
Juncus biglumis L. Assistance Bay. 
Carex Hepburnii Boot!. Berry Island. 
Luzula hyperborea Br. Berry Island, Davis’ Straits. 
Eriophorum polystachyum L. Assistance Bay. 
Phippsia monandra Trin. Assistance Bay. 
Alopecurus alpinus 8m. Bushnan Island. 
Poa cenisia All. Bushnan Island, Assistance Bay. 
Hierochloe alpina Wahl. Bushnan Island. 
Luzula hyperborea Br. Bushnan Island. 
Woodsia glabella Br. Berry Island and other islands in 
Davis' Straits. 
Of some of these plants we find the following par¬ 
ticulars scattered through the volumes. 
On the 29th of May, 1850, in the vicinity of Dark 
Head, Dr. Sutherland says :— 
“Vegetation, as yet, had hardly made any advance, al- 
though snow-buntings and ptarmigan ( Tetrao saliceti, and 
Tetrao rupestris ) could be seen occasionally. The ptarmigan 
feeds upon the willow tops, and the snow-bunting upon the 
berries of the Empetrum nigrum, which are very abundant. 
I landed six years ago on the rugged coast, south of the 
Black River, in the bottom of South-east Bay, and found 
these berries so numerous in the month of May, that whole 
basketsful could have been collected; and, although they 
have been covered with snow during the whole winter and 
spring, and were so far liable to change of temperature, 
they did not seem to have suffered much from it, for they 
retained their sweet taste, and other properties peculiar to : 
them in a fresh condition. It is very probable that the 
temperature had rarely been above the freezing point; 
otherwise, decomposition of their juices would soon have 
rendered them quite tasteless. 
“A plant ( Pyrola media?), known by the name * buko- 
blather ’ among the Danes, which is very abundant, is also 
very highly prized as an antiscorbutic; and when they have 
any fears of the approach of scurvy, it is collected in 
