108 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— Juke 0, 1850. 
brooms, and more especially to those which are intended 
to clear right and left the centre of single or double 
swaths. The head is a double plate of light iron, in a 
curved form; and the short or long handle is just as 
easily and securely fixed as you would fix a handle to 
an iron rake. The hircli can be placed as thin as you 
like—as much spread out fan-shape as you like, to take 
in a large space; the whole is exceedingly light; there 
is no danger of one twig getting out of its place; and, 
when worn out, fresh birch can be again fixed as 
I securely in a shorter time than I write it. It would not 
be right to say more until I bear the patent is secured. 
Given the presence of birch, whalebone, or any other 
suitable material for brooms; and a light, firm, most 
serviceable besom can be made in a few minutes. I 
have little faith in fortune-making from patents; but I 
wish Mr. Henderson every success, as his invention, 
especially for cross-sweeping, is not more ingenious 
than simple and efficient. 
I have thus lingered about the garden, but that is a 
small matter to the tourists, who love to explore the 
scenery—seen from many points of the fifty miles of 
walks, and thirty miles of rides, and from the summit of 
the picturesque Craig-y-Barns itself. We bad only a few 
hours to spare, and were privileged to have Mr. Hen¬ 
derson as our guide and cicerone. Leaving the grounds 
arouud the cathedral, we traversed a long green walk on 
the banks of the Tay, passing fine specimens of Silver 
Fir, Beeches, and other trees, — huge Rhododendrons, 
that sow themselves plentifully, with interesting wild 
plants and Ferns peeping from the banks. 
Glancing across the river to a cascade of the Braan, 
and the abode of Neil Gow, and the meadow in which 
he composed those tunes that have stirred hearts and 
heels, now we_ cross the Tay in a ferry-boat, rowed by 
a lady that has been surnamed Grace Darling, wend our 
way over moor and fell, with Heather and Bilberries for 
our near neighbours, and the ever-varying scenery of the 
hills as our more distant friends. Anon we enter thick, 
shady woods, notice huge anthills in open spaces by the 
walk sides, look into the Cave of Ossian—a most un¬ 
comfortable hole even for the most ascetic anchorite, 
letting alone the royal race of kings. By-and-by, we 
hear a slight rumbling sound, and ere long stand at the 
door of a building; it is opened, and we look upon a 
painting of Ossian tuning his pipe,— qrresto, a spring is 
touched, the painting disappears,—a noise as of thunder 
meets your ears, and foaming, gurgling, hissing, and 
showering its spray, the cataract cascade of the Braan 
bursts upon your gaze, reflected by many mirrors inside 
the building. This building, termed the Hermitage, the 
Hall of Ossian, Ac., is placed on a rock, forty feet above 
the fall; and so judiciously has the position been chosen, 
that you have no idea of the nearness of the river, until 
thus disclosed from the interior of the building. What 
would not Sir Joseph Paxton give for such a cataract in 
| some wild spot at Sydenham ? At a short distance, an 
| arch is thrown over the river; and beneath it the water 
is as placid as it is fierce and tumultuous at the cascade. 
1 About a mile further up is the rumbling bridge, where 
| the bed of the river is filled, as at the hermitage, with 
huge boulders of rock and stone, over which the river 
foams and thunders; but though vastly striking, it did 
not appear so imposingly grand as at the hermitage; 
though the noise and the spray, as the waters pour 
through the narrow chasm, must be exceedingly 
commanding in the time of a spate, when the river is 
full. 
Our time being limited, and having breakfasted early, 
we were glad to find our way back to Dunkeld, and to 
squat down at the hospitable table of John Anderson, 
the much respected landlord of the splendid castellated 
hotel, inn, and tap-room, at Birnam, built by Sir W. 
Stewart, whose beautiful specimens of the Pine tribe, and 
collection of fine trees I much regretted being unable to 
see.—But trains will wait for nobody. It. Fish. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE CALCEOLARIA. 
The long-wished-for habit of this charming flower 
has at length been attained. What was wanted was the 
large-spotted, or self-coloured flowers, produced on plants 
with a shrubby habit. The herbaceous varieties were ■ 
all, or nearly all, so very tender, and apt to die off the 
first or second year after being raised, that the growers 
became perfectly wearied of purchasing them ; so much ! 
so, that of late years all prudent cultivators have betook 
themselves to raising them from seed every year, and 
thus treating them as mere biennials, or even anuuals. 
By judicious impregnation of the shrubby varieties with 
the pollen of the best herbaceous ones, there is now in 
the nurseries a new and more hardy breed, with flowers j 
as large and vividly-coloured as the male parent, with 
the half-woody stems of the female. These woedy- 
stemmed varieties are much more desirable, not only on I 
account of their being more hardy, but also because ; 
they are much easier of increase by cuttings. 
The best way to obtain a considerable number of 
cuttings is (as soon as the plants have done blooming), 
to plant them out in the garden borders and stop the 
leading shoots. They will theu send forth a great 
number of shoots, which shoots, as soon as the lower 
portion lias become a little hardened, or approaching to 
woodiness, should be slipped off, leaving a few to pro¬ 
duce a second crop. These cuttings should have the 1 
lower leaves carefully trimmed off, and then be inserted 
in a cutting pot, with an inch of pure white sand on the 
top of the light compost. Place them in a cold frame, j 
and shade them closely from the sun for a week or two, 
watering them occasionally when the sand becomes dry. 1 
In three weeks they ought to be rooted; then pot them 
off into small pots, replacing them in the frame, and 
shading again till they become established; then set 
them in the open air, on a bed of coal-aslies, till the pots 
are filled with roots; they should then be repotted into j 
larger pots, and placed again on the ash-bed, and before 
the frost sets in remove them into the greenhouse, 
placing them pretty close to the glass; they will then 
be nice, stocky plants, which will, with proper attention 
to watering, repotting in the spring, smoking with 
tobacco frequently to destroy their great enemies, the 
Green Fly, form fine, flowering plants, fit either for 
greenhouse or conservatory decoration, or to plant out 
in beds in the flower-garden. 
Twelve Selected New Varieties. 
1. Albina (Cole*).—Good habit; colour a rich orange, 
covered thickly with brown spots, 
2. Eclipse (Rollison).—Large trusses of brilliant crim- , 
son flowers, much richer than Sultan and of a better 
form ; habit dwarf, neat, and compact. 
3. Goldfmler (Cole).—Good trusses, large flowers, and 
of a rich, clear golden-yellow colour; habit excellent. 
A good, desirable variety. 
4. Harlequin (Cole). — Dense trusses, with large 
flower ; ground-colour orange, fantastically aud densely j 
spotted with dark brown; good habit. 
5. Ilaxelc (Cole).—Large trusses; flowers of a deep, 
rich orange, covered with maroon spots. Freo grower 
and abundant bloomer. 
(j. King of Sardinia (Cole).— Large trusses, with 
* All these varieties with this name attached to them were raised by 
Mr. Cole, a nurseryman at St. Albans, and were successfully exhibited by 
him at the Royal Botanic Society’s Exhibition in June last year. They 
were much admired, and are of excellent habit, and well adapted eitheV 
for pot-culture or bedding-out. 
