271 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —July 15, 1850. 
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oil Wybunbuiy Bog, in Cheshire. In Ireland it has 
boen discovered on the estate of Lord Gough, at Rathro- 
nan, near Clonmel. 
We believe this to be Dr. Johnson’s Filix mas ramosa 
pinnulis dentatis. He says, it then (1633) grew “plen¬ 
tifully in the boggy, shadowy moors near Durn'ford 
Abbey, in Sussex, and also on the moist, shadowy 
rocks by Maple-durluim, near Betersfield, in Hampshire ; 
and I have found it often oil the dead, putrefied bodies 
and stems of old, rotten Oaks, in the moors. Near the 
old jfiants I have observed very many small, young 
plants growing, which came by the falling of the seed 
from their dusty scales; for I believe all herbs have 
seeds in themselves to produce their kinds. Gen. i. 11 
and 12.” ( Gerardes Herbal, ed. by Johnson, 1120.) Ray, 
in his Historia Plantarum, also says, that Mr. Goodyer 
had found it not only in Sussex, but in many other 
places in England. 
Mr. W. Reeve gives us the following directions for its 
cultivation:— 
“ The Lastrau cristata is a very useful plant for , 
adorning the moist, shady parts of the rockery and ! 
shrubbery, as well as for growing in pots for a collection 
of hardy Ferns ; but it is not so beautiful as some other 1 
species. When once established, it very shortly becomes 
free in its growth and low in appearance. Those who ; 
wish to grow it as a pot-plant must drain well the ! 
pot, and give the plants a compost of loam and peat 
(fibry), equal parts, with a free admixture of silver sand ; 
and plenty of room will be required as the plant in¬ 
creases in size. It prefers being grown in a damp, 
shady situation, and a cool rather than a hot situa¬ 
tion. When grown in a high temperature, the unfolding 
fronds become long and weak, and it loses its beauty, 
and oftentimes damps quite off, or dwindles away. 
“ It is well adapted for damp, shady places, the shaded 
part of a rockery included, where it will grow very well 
in a compost of loam and peat, with a little grit (fine 
stones or small crocks)' mixed with it; and both in this, 
and also under pot-culture, it will require a moderate 
supply of water and frequent syringing. 
“ It may be increased by sowing the ripe fructification 
(which will be in that state by the latter end of summer) 
in shallow pans filled with charcoal, lumps of peat, 
sandstone, and loam, and placed in a damp pit, and 
shaded closely from sunshine, and the seedlings to be 
pricked off in the same manner as directed for former 
genera—always keeping the young plants damp and 
well shaded, and protected in winter and during the 
summer months. All the plants in pots should be 
plunged, or other means taken to keep the roots con¬ 
stantly cool and moist.” 
PINCUSHION BEDS. 
What is more handy than a pincushion, or less likely 
to get out of fashion? or who can do without it, high 
or low, rich or poor? We could do better without look¬ 
ing-glasses than without pins and needles, and our credit ! 
would enable us to get on, for a time, even without money; j 
but all would be lost on us without pins and pincushions, 
for the one half of us could hardly get out of bed with¬ 
out them, and the other half would look like perfect 
simpletons who could not help themselves ; therefore 
there cannot be any question about the real usefulness 
of flower-beds on the principle of the pincushion, into 
which you can stick anything out of hand for the 
moment, or for a whole season. Let such beds but once 
get a looting in any good garden, no matter how large 
or how small it may be, and my word for it, the pin¬ 
cushion itself would be parted with as soon, or even 
sooner, than a pincushion bed or beds. 
You never saw things more handy in all your days, or 
more suitable, or more appropriate, or more on the prin¬ 
ciple of economy and true genius than these pincushion 
beds; and you can always “kill two birds with one- 
stone ” by simply adopting them on a principle and on 
a system. There are lots of them in the experimental 
garden from choice, from principle, and from necessity. 
On choice, because they are in good taste; on principle, 
because it is a principal thing, of course, to try experi¬ 
ments in an experimental garden ; and the necessity of 
such an arrangement was forced on us by the immense 
number of kinds of plants which were sent carriage- 
free to London for the purposes of this garden. For the 
“overplus” of those contributions, and for the odds and 
oddities from our own new propagating-bed, which is on 
a new construction, we were forced, last June, to adopt 
the pincushion-bed system, and about eighteen of them 
were made off-hand, and planted the same week. If 
many more plants come in we shall extend the system 
ever so far; but, really, I must sing out aloud, and say 
that I have nearly enough for this season, many thanks 
to the contributors. 
After seeing two parcels which are now on the way, 
I shall name three or four kinds of bedding Geraniums, 
which will complete, perhaps, the largest collection that 
ever was made by one person. 1 
There was a seedling of my own in the way of Tom 
Thumb, called Beaton's No. 50, alias Shrubland Dwarf, 
alias Shrubland Scarlet, which I want particularly; and 
the one 1 have from two places as Diadematum regium, 
alias Regina, 1 fear is not true. It is quite wrong to 
call it Regina; I named it myself Regium: the meaning 
is Royal Diadem. My beautiful Countess came through 
I fair hands from a distance, and is the only one in the 
' collection which has cost me in carriage more than it is 
worth in the market. Unless Dazzle is not on the way, 
: it must also be added to the list of what I want. 
Well, about the pincushion beds. They are aloDg 
: the sides of the principal walks in opposite pairs part 
of the way ; then on one side of the walk, and those that 
are so stand each on its own merits ; then they come in 
t groups, more being on one side of the walk than on the 
other side; and here the planting is more difficult to 
execute, or rather, the kinds of plants and the colours 
require more consideration before planting; therefore, 
this part will be improved on when we see the full 
effects of the present arrangement. 
Every one of the pincushion beds must be exactly 
of the same form and size. If one of them was bigger 
or less than the rest, the whole effect and the character 
would be entirely lost; and the same if the least varia¬ 
tion is made in the shape. They are all circles; and 
after trying and studying the different sizes, that which 
I think is nearest to the truth, and which is adopted, 
is just one yard in diameter, and, strange to say, there 
is not a bit of garden ground lost by the use of them, 
and this of itself will bring them into use in all places 
under five acres in extent. 
The fact is this: there is a good selection of standard 
Roses planted on the grass along the walks in the cx 
perimental garden, just one yard from the sides of the 
walks; and we began at one end, and made a pincushion 
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