182 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
of-doors. It may be taken up and potted in the autumn, 
and placed in the greenhouse for the winter. If grown 
as a pot-plant for the greenhouse, an addition to the 
before-mentioned compost of one-fourth loam, with a 
small quantity of sphagnum, will be preferred, with a 
good drainage. Frequent syringing, or sprinkling with 
water, will be required, and still more so if grown in a 
stove. If grown in a Wardian case, the same compost 
as for pot culture will be suitable for it, and to be placed 
near the bottom of the case. 
This is one amongst many other Ferns that is suitable 
for growing under a glass shade or bell-glass by itself, 
looking very neat, and can be kept in a small room, not 
capable of accommodating a large case. 
It may be increased by division, or by filling a pot 
with small lumps of peat and freestone, and sprinkling 
the surface with the fructification of the Fern when just 
ripe. Keep the pot in a moist and warm place until 
the seedlings are up and large enough to finger, when 
they may be potted into small pots in little lumps, with 
the growing plants upon them. They must still be 
placed in a close, shady situation until large enough to 
plant out finally. 
At the Meeting of the Council of the London Horticul¬ 
tural Society, on the 27th of May, various subjects 
intimately connected with the existence of the Society 
were discussed. We are not in a position to publish 
the discussions in detail; but we may state briefly that 
any attempt to revive the Chiswick Shows will not be 
made this year. 
Serious compl<*ints were made that the circulars had 
not been forwarded by the Secretary, as he was directed, 
requesting contributions for the preservation of the 
Gardens. Notwithstanding this neglect, A'3,500 have 
been subscribed, and the list will be kept open a short 
time longer to ascertain the result of the circulars which 
have now been sent. The probability is that the 
Gardens will be saved to the Society, that the llegent 
Street establishment will be given up, and that Govern¬ 
ment will grant the Society rooms in Burlington House. 
If this course, dictated by common sense, be pursued, not 
only will the funds of the Society be largely strengthened 
by the sale of the lease and of the library, but a very 
material saving will be effected in the salaries of the 
officials: whose services will be dispensed with remains 
for further consideration. Another large annual saving 
; may be effected, also, in the management of the Garden, 
I for wo bear that a very responsible party offered to have 
it efficiently managed for J11200 a-year. 
The Meeting at the rooms on the same day was very 
j indifferent. The most noticeable objects were Alonsoa 
Warcezewiczi, scarlet-flowered, and said to be a good 
bedder, as was Nemesia versicolor, a blue-flowered Cape 
of Good Hope plant. 
Strawberries, well-fruited, were exhibited in 5-inch 
pots, and this size (the old 48s) are said to bo quite 
large enough for forcing this fruit. If so, a very im¬ 
portant saving of space will be effected. 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —June 10,1850. 
BEDDING PLANTS. 
The Variegated Mint. —A “ Yorkshire Clergyman” 
sent me three little cuttings of the Variegated Mint 
(see page 55, and, again, page 153). These cuttings 
bore no resemblance to the plant; they were perfectly 
smooth-at the time; but now, after rooting and a little 
growth, they are as hoary as they should be, and now 
there is no question about the identity of the plant. 
Since then I received a potful of rooted cuttings of it 
from Shrubland Park, along with all the bedding Gera¬ 
niums there, so that, instead of being a scarce or neg¬ 
lected plant, it would appear to be in use in some of the 
best and most fashionable places in the country. The 
first time I thought of it for bedding was in the autumn 
of 1850, on seeing patches of it in the garden of the 
late Mr. Crowe, at Coddenham, near Shrubland, from 
whom I received a plant of it; but the bustle about the 
new buildings and Prince Albert’s visit drove it out of 
my head in 1851, aud on coming here I found it a 
weed, as it were, in every garden ; but I think I noticed 
it once, in a collection of variegated plants, in Mr. Jack- 
sou's nursery. In my own experimental garden it is 
a bothersome plant, and grows over everything near it; 
nevertheless, I have just “ taken to it,” from the useful 
notices about it in The Cottage Gardener; aud I must 
say I have found it very useful already. 
After saying I had room for 2000 Geraniums, and 
after tho 100,000 which I had given away in my day, I 
expected to receive, at least, double the number I had 
room for in the bed3. But, no; they did not fully under¬ 
stand me; they sent most liberally in lands, so much so, 
that at the end of six weeks I had the richest collection 
of themiuEugland; but my beds have only the “ sheets" 
as yet, and no other furniture. Well, to “spin out” the 
best way I could, I planted two match beds with as 
many plants of Flower of the Day as would do for one 
good “ furnished ” bed; aud to make.up the difference, I 
planted both beds over again with this Variegated Mint, 
and you never saw a better arrangement for a poor man, 
or a neglected friend, in your life; and all from the 
notice of the Mint by the “ Yorkshire Clergyman,” just 
at the time I was tearing up “loads” of it from the 
borders of the experimental garden. 
There is auother variegated hardy plant in the ex¬ 
perimental garden which 1 like better than this Mint—a 
companion to the Golden Chain itself—tho Variegated 
Oround Ivy (Glechoma hcderacea). It is a slender, trail¬ 
ing, British plant, a sport from one of the commonest of 
our native weeds, and the best of them for trailing over 
a rustic basket, next after the Moneywort. 
There are several rustic beds aud baskets in the ex¬ 
perimental garden already, and better furnished than 
some of you might think. The Hound's Tongue, the 
Moneywort, the Variegated Mint and Ground Ivy, and 
the Germander Speedwell, ( Veronica chamadrys,) and 
four more coarser plants, cluster or hang down round 
the edges of one of these rustic baskets. Different 
kinds of trailing Helianthcmums, or Sun Roses, hang 
down over the rims of another; and that seems the best 
way of growing all the trailing Cistuses. They are so 
impatient of water at the roots in winter, that many 
people cannot keep them at all; but elevato them on dry 
rockwork, or as most appropriate trailers for rustic I 
baskets, and you secure them against their natural , 
enemy, and bring them better in sight while thoy are in I 
bloom ; and their evergreen leaves, of every shado of 
green to light hoariuess, make the basket look as well in 
winter as the hanging baskets at the Crystal Palace. 
Many kinds of creeping Stonecrops, or Sedums, bang 
about these rustic baskets in different ways, and look as 
well as anything. But bow are the rustic baskets them¬ 
selves planted? How, indeed! that is just the ques¬ 
tion with me now, above all others; but if ever you 
