250 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— July 8, 1850. 
and the actual breeding that has been made with all 
the plants he wishes to cross himself. There are cer¬ 
tain plants that never yet did produce a superior cross; 
then, if I happen to know what has been done already 
with any one of them, surely I would not throw away 
time experimenting on it? Multiplying experiments, 
and registering every one of them, is the surest way of 
making the thing easy to new beginners; hence why I 
put so much stress on it. I am almost satisfied that all 
the bedding Geraniums of the greenhouse kinds, as 
Lady Mary Fox, will seed sooner or later. Touchstone 
is as bad to seed as any of the race; but there are 
crosses from it now in other hands, and I have a plant 
of it in full seed at this moment,, by following the hot¬ 
house system with it. D. Beaton. 
RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF DYSART 
HOUSE. 
Dysart House is close to the old-fashioned town of 
Dysart, on the Fife coast, about one hour and a half’s 
distance from Edinburgh, crossing the Forth at Burnt 
Island, and thus approached from north and south by 
the Edinburgh, aud Perth and Dundee railway. There 
are few gardeners that read that do not know something 
of Dysart and Mr. Laue, the eminent raiser aud culti¬ 
vator of Rhododendrons and the allied groups, and 
whose success in so soon blooming Rhododendron Dal- 
housianum, by grafting it on a strong plant of Ponticum, 
must he fresh in the recollection of all our readers. Ere 
long, I presume, he will have seedlings and hybrids from 
the same plant in bloom. 
This garden, a quarter of a century ago, was celebrated 
for its Rhododendrons and its American plants ; but it 
was nothing then to what it is now. A glance will show 
that general gardening is anything but neglected; but 
the great features of the place are Rhododendrons and 
Hollyhocks. I was too early to see anything of the 
latter, except the vast quantity, all lettered and figured 
as approved varieties; and even of the former the great 
mass were merely swelling their buds, though there was ; 
one fine specimen of a dark variety of Alta clarense 
worth going miles to see. In the grounds there was 
also a fine plant of Araucaria imhricata, not so tall as 
some about London and Edinburgh and elsewhere, 
but next to unequalled for the compact thickness of its 
branches, and the rich, deep green of its foliage. 
With the exception of such single specimens and 
masses of common Laurel as divisions and backgrounds, 
the great features of the pleasure-grounds are American 
plants, and chiefly Rhododendrons. These are thrown 
together in groups aud bold, sweeping borders in 
grounds traversed with gracefully-curved walks, and ; 
these again bordered with broad, irregular margins of 
turf. New and continuous additions are being made, 
and were I to live long enough, it would not surprise me 
to hear of these Rhododendron grounds extending west¬ 
ward along the coast for nearly two miles to the east end \ 
of the “ lang toun o’ Ivirkaldy.” The only objection to 
this would be the narrowness of the space in places 
between the highway and the shore, aud the salt spray 
from the sea breeze, which leaves its mark on every 
leaf it touches. The present grounds are so sheltered 
and banked that the spray does not touch the plants. 
Thousands upon thousands of Rhododendrons are grow¬ 
ing away most vigorously, most of them raised upon 
the premises; and thousands of seedlings will soon be 
crying for more elbow-room. 
In the houses, along with Calceolarias, Cinerarias, 
Azaleas, &e., there was a nice plant of Rhododendron 
Maddonii in bloom, and also the delightfully scented 
Odorata. To a hybridist the great thing would be the 
pans of seedlings, crossed and uncrossed, of all the best 
new kinds, and Mr. Lane’s remarks and expectations 
respecting them. 
I question if such masses and varieties can be seen 
in any other private establishment. The Exhibition of 
American plants at the Regent’s Park paled even the 
beauty of the ladies. These grounds at Dysart must be 
superb in the end of May and June. They also furnish 
a fine specimen of what may be termed uniqueness and 
unity of expression. If there is a regular flower-garden, 
I did not see it. There seemed to be no attempt to 
mingle flowers with the evergreens. What flowers would 
compete with these Rhododendrons in the height of their 
bloom? In the autumn, again, though cheerfully green, 
they would be sombre, contrasted with other things in j 
the height of their beauty. The inference would seem 
to be—mingle not groups of these with groups of her- : 
baceous flowers or bedding plants, but give them a j 
garden for themselves; and if that is not convenient, in- j 
stead of mixing or blending, use the American plants, 
but still separately, as a surrounding background. The 
boundary would thus take the chief attention at one 
time, and the centre with flowers at another, and there 
would be no dividing of interests or clashing of ideas. 
In large places there should be a garden for American 
plants alone. The example of Dysart shows how, even 
in small places, eminence may be gained by concen¬ 
tring efforts -on a limited number of subjects. Dysart 
is anything but small; yet its chief fame rests upon its 
Rhododendrons. 
Gardening is now so wide that where everything is ! 
attempted, unless there aro great resources, respectable | 
mediocrity is all that can be reached. Were more of a 
Freemasonry, benevolent, social feeling existing in 
suburban districts, each garden, by following a pre¬ 
viously arranged plan, or carrying out merely the pe¬ 
culiar tastes of the owner, would become, not a confused 
vlultum inparvo (much in little space), but a multum in 
multis; and by the owners visiting each other, the little 
places of the district would present many of the features 
of the various gardens in one princely demesne. Before 
this can be realised, however, we must get out of the 
English habit—aud not so much English as Scotch—of 
taking no notice of neighbours until a series of stupid 
introductions are gone through, and wo know, or have 
given our curiosity full play to know, all the outs and ins 
of their previous history—all right enough in a case 
of familiar friendship, but not requisite lor exhibiting I 
common courtesy. The tale of the two gentlemen, who 
knew each other well by sight from studying at the same 1 
college, and who met and parted without a word on the 
top of a distant mountain, because they had never been ’ 
introduced, is no unmeaning satire upon the con¬ 
ventionalities of genteel society. A love of gardening 
generates the very opposite of the selfish and the con 
tracted. As proof of it, notice the well-known fact that 
gardeners, as a body, stand alone for the attention aud 
kindness they bestow on visiting gardeners, though they 1 
had never heard of or seen them before. Proprietors of 
gardens and employers of gardeners soon catch and 
exemplify the same spirit if they are really fond of, and 
interested in, the pursuit. Looking on and admiring the 
same plant even presents us at once with a common 
stand-point of feeling and action—a fact which many 
have known to their happiness, whose most valued in¬ 
timacies had their first buddings amid the hallowing 
influence of flowers. R, Fish. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE PANSY. 
This lovely, almost ever-blooming flower is an uni¬ 
versal favourite. It may be seen ornamenting the 
cottager’s border, the amateur’s garden, aud the parterres 
