280 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
Hybrid TroP/EOLUHs.— We have again been favoured 
with examples of the successful hybridizing practised 
j by Mr. Melville, of Dalmeny Park. On former occa- 
j sions we noticed bis success in the way of garden 
i vegetables, but those which are now presented to us 
j are the produce of a cross between the Indian Cress 
and Tropceolum Canariense, which Mr. Melville under¬ 
took with the view of throwing more colour into the 
latter. This seedling, which was marked No. 1, is a 
very fine scarlet, and others are of a deep orange. 
There were also several varieties of ’Tropceolum Schuer- 
manniana, which showed many shades of colour; they 
are perfectly hardy annuals, and grow in moderate soil 
four feet high when staked. In the same box which 
contained the Tropseolums were several specimens of a 
new and, we must say, a very greatly improved variety 
of Collinsia bartsirefolia bicolor, which is as superior to 
that which is usually met with under that name as the 
now beautiful Pansies are to the old Heartsease. Its 
flowers are large, inflated, and expanding, and of a pure 
snow white. It will make an admirable ingredient in a 
bed where a fine white is required. 
BEDDING PLANTS. 
Anothkii large handful of rooted cuttings of the 
Variegated Mint, which I have just received, with a 
collection of bedding plants, from another of the first 
gardens in England, is a sure sign that this old and 
long overlooked plant has made its way at last on its 
own merits alone ; for, until the “Yorkshire Clergyman” 
brought it before us last spring, I do not remember to 
have ever seen a word about it in print. Everybody 
hereabouts calls it a Balm; but that is wrong so far, as 
there is a little group of distinct plants under that title 
in our lists already, Melissa by name; and there are 
other Balms so called, but there are no true Balms 
except under Melissa. The Mints are more numerous, 
and it sounds odd to put Mint into a flower-bed, and that 
is why neither of the contributors to the Experimental 
Garden named the Mint they sent in abundance. Mentha, 
the Latin or book name, comes so near the sound of 
Mint, that I know nothing for it but to hold to the 
common name of Variegated Mint, Mentha rotundifolia 
variegata. 
On the threshold, however, let me warn my readers 
to have this kind of Mint removed, or transplanted, 
every year, or second year at least, and to keep it out 
of rockwork, for it takes a powerful hold of the soil, 
and is as difficult to remove entirely from it as a 
Russian army, in comparison to common Mint. 
Mr. Wright, gardener for many years to Miss Lassette, 
uear Kingston here, told me that he was the first who 
introduced it into this neighbourhood from Berkshire, 
fourteen years back, and now he can hardly get rid of 
it in his own garden. Many other plants make useful 
servants but bad masters. 
Now, read what the “Yorkshire Clergyman” said about 
it, and be thankful for so useful a thing as ever a vario- 
gated plant has been in the flower-garden. Recollect, 
also, that there is no beauty in it except the variegated 
leaves, and that may be said of all the old variegated 
plants and of most of the new ones. There is the “ Old 
Scarlet” variegated, alias Silver-edge, alias Shot-silk 
Geranium, which is still the best bloomer of the old 
race; then Mangles' Variegated, alias Mangles' Silver- 
edge, alias Mangles' Silver-bedding, with all its beauty 
in the leaf. Flower of the Day, the widest known 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 2 », 1856. 
of all the new ones, would not be grown on a 
mixed border tor its flowers—the whole beauty is in the 
leaf. The Attractions, the Silver Queen, the Mountain 
oj Light, and three others of that class which were sent 
in to me (but the names are not yet on the nib of the 
pen), are all very good, but the leaves are by far the best 
part of them ; and, without boastiug of the chickens till | 
the eggs are hatched, I may give an extract from my 
“ Chronicle,” which seems to imply that the variegated 
leaves of Brilliant are not of much account as such :— 
“ The style of growth in this variety is the nearest to 
perfection for a bed of all the kinds I know. The flowers 
are as bad in shape as those of any scarlet can be, slit 
open between the petals, and the top of each petal 
rolling back in the sun, giving a wretched look to a 
single flower; yet, from the habit of the plant and the 
intense colour of the flowers, laying the variegation in 
the leaves aside altogether, I predict, thus early, that 
Brilliant will be as much cultivated in ten years as Tom 
Thumb is at present." Now, this early and hasty judg¬ 
ment, which was not intended to see the light, but is 
forced on me by the subject in hand, must not be taken 
as sound and lawful. Hasty judgments, like hasty mar¬ 
riages, may and often do turn out the best in the end; 
but careful people avoid them as much as possible. 
Having broken the ice, take another leaf out of the 
Chronicles of the Experimental Garden ; it is from notes 
on Rosea compacta Geranium, one of the scarlets:— 
“ I think this kind was first sold by Mr. Salter, of the 
Versailles Nursery, Hammersmith, a few years back, for 
10s. Od. a-piece. The first time I saw it was in 1853, 
at the garden of the unfortunate Horticultural Society. 
It seems to be a continental seedliug. In 1855 it grew 
well with me in the open air, and would have made a 
nice small bed, or a good edging to a bed of variegated 
plants. The leaf is plain, that is, having no 1 horse-shoe’ i 
mark ; the flowers are small, with a florist’s outline. 
They are of a light rosy hue; but the habit of short joints 
and long flower-stalks, which is the perfection of a bed¬ 
ding Geranium, are the main points of recommendation 
for Rosea compacta, which is, most certainly, the best 
drawing-room plant which has yet appeared among the 
scarlet race.” 
Then follow the “properties” for breeding each kind, 
and the best kind to cross with, with surmises about 
how so-and-so would affect this and that kind, if it 
could be worked upon by an offspring of such and such. 
That part is then followed by the stud calendar; but the 
most difficult part of the undertaking seems to belong 
to the “ turf,” and hero I am at fault; for, although I 
have been long enough on the turf to learn all the 
“moves,” 1 cannot yet fully determine beforehand 
whether a given flower, a new seedling, will look best 
and tell better on turf, grass, or gravel; but the Chro¬ 
nicle will never be complete, to my mind, without the 
registration goes to the very last move. 
As far as I can judge from very nearly one hundred 
kinds of bedding Geraniums now in the Experimental 
Garden, no one has taken advantage of the extreme j 
dwarf, bushy habit of Lady Caroline Courtney, a seedling j 
of 1844, which flowered for the first time late in the | 
autumn of 1840 ; and that very plant is now in full bloom ; 
in this garden. As soon as l came to Surbiton, I began - 
this strain, but there is nothing very particular from it j 
yet in the way of show, only in “ dwarfs ” and gaping 
flowers, but some of the tints are the most lady-like you 
ever saw ; but the crowning flower of this season is Sir 
Colin Campbell, from Mr. Jackson, aud Sir Williayi 
Middleton, from a duke. 
I said I would never part with the original Lady 
Caroline. My two specimens of Lady Middleton are in, 
as if for the Derby, to bloom in winter. If I do not kill 
them with experiments, I shall’ never part with them 
either, for I am now quite convinced that the older any 
