37G 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 15. 
and the true. The hero of to-day has too often been 
the neglected and the martyred of the yesterdays of the 
past. The respect thus lately given may be no induce¬ 
ment to court popular applause, for that applause will 
not continue uuless it has something beyond the 
: evanescent to nourish it; but that respect should be 
j sufficient encouragement to every man to advocate what 
j he honestly believes to he right, confident, that if based 
on the true and the useful, a period will come when he 
; not have to standalone. The principles which we all 
hold so dear have passed through such processes of 
| probation. Comparing small things with great, the 
! question of standards, as applied to gardening on the 
i stage or the parterre, has scarcely had enough of oppo¬ 
sition to sift out its demerits or merits. The pooh- 
poohing it one year has been followed by its very general 
adoption in the next. How to get standards conical¬ 
shaped plants, and Lilliputian in opposition to the 
gigantic, are questions that now stream in with the force 
of an inundation, and whether we are right or wrong 
these must be attended to. 
Before referring to a few particular cases, allow me to 
allude to a general enquiry —“When are standard 
flowering plants most appropriately used as objects of 
ornament?” This is answered by implication in the 
previous remarks. A standard flowering-plant should 
not stand alone, until from its character and size it can 
command respect. Even then it is often seen to most 
advantage when constituting a centre to the dwarfer 
plants around it. The exception to this general 
rule is, when any person at all acquainted with the 
subject can at once see the result in his mind’s eye 
from the smallest beginnings, for that result would at 
once neutralise any fly-flapper appearance of the 
present. This remark, however, furnishes a hint, that 
standard floweriug-plants, if to command the respect of 
those who can see little beyond the present, should be 
kept in the private or nursery department until their 
very size commands respect. Thus, there are few things 
more beautiful than a full-grown standard Apple-tree 
when in full bloom. There is little ornamental in that 
tree for a year or two after it has been grafted. A Rose- 
tree, with a head some yard or two yards in diameter, 
is an object of great interest, alone or in combination 
with dwarfer Roses. Small heads isolated in con¬ 
spicuous positions are only tolerated on the supposition 
that they must be small before they can be large; and 
the old saying that “ Rome was not built in a day,” 
furnishes a stop-gap to the critic who cannot from the 
present glance into the future. 
There is a growing fashion to have something like 
avenues of Tree Roses by the sides of walks. Ultimate 
size, individually, must form a chief element of success 
when standards are thus used. That object attempted 
and obtained is the best answer to tire cavils of a 
j refined taste. And j r et, nothing has so tended to throw 
i discredit oil the whole system of using standard flower- 
] mg-plants lor ornament as the heedless, indiscriminate 
j manner in which Tree Roses have been dotted, here and 
there, over a lawn, without one coherent principle of a 
unity of expression, and constituting nothing but mar- 
I plots and scare-crows to the otherwise fairy scene ; and 
! all this, more especially, when, by the mode of pruning 
and culture, the head seldom emerges beyond the size 
i of a respectable mop. I have often been taken to admire 
the Roses on a series of Rose-trees thus dropped down 
like hail-drops from the clouds ; and the beauty of the 
: individual Rose bloom has not kept me from having my 
finger ends tingle to clear the green carpeted lawn 
lrom such a number of disfigurements, and to group 
these Rose-trees, with dwarfer ones, in a corner by 
themselves. Let it be remarked, however, that few 
things arb more unsatisfactory than a group of such 
standards by themselves , arising from the want of con¬ 
trast and variety of outline. 
I recollect alluding to this something like a twelve 
month ago. A friend, who is famed for his standards, 
Roses, and other things, had some beautiful groups of 
Roses from a happy blending of the tree,—the tall bush 
and the dwarf one. In one conspicuous corner stood a 
large group of standards, each having its round circlo 
of earth and narrow spaces of grass between 1 forget 
now what I said about it. It was a disjointed concern ; 
there was no wholeness in it; just because there was 
little contrast in size or form in the individual parts. I 
have looked upon that very corner this summer—and 
how changed. The individual character of the Rose- 
trees, as respects their heavy sameness, had been 
destroyed. The ground was dug up between them, and 
dwarf plants had been introduced that produced a pleas¬ 
ing whole. Our friend poked our side, aud said “ There, 
was not that the group you niggled so about ? ” “ Well! 
the cap seems to have fitted so well, that you have used 
it for effecting a great improvement ” One great advan¬ 
tage of gardeners visiting each other, and thus compar¬ 
ing notes, is, that errors are perceived by us that would 
long pass unnoticed if we had the help of no other eyes 
but our own. Ihe sensible man is never above borrow¬ 
ing or improving on an idea, come from whence it may. 
No bantering, or cajolery, would have made that friend 
change the appearance of that group of Roses had he 
not forcibly felt the propriety of doing so; and that is 
only one of the many facts that have come to me during 
the last twelve months, showing that, gainsay who will, 
the use of standards out-of-doors aud in-doors is destined 
at least to have a fair trial. 
I will now proceed to meet the case of a few inquiries. 
HARDINESS OF THE CASSIA CORYMBOSA. 
“ I sa "b last season, a splendid plant of this in the stove 
conservatory at Woburn Abbey; have often seen it in 
stoves and warm greenhouses;' but fear it will do little 
good out-of-doors, either as a standard, or otherwise, 
being a native of such a warm climate.” I only wish I 
had plants large and old enough to give them a fair 
trial. I presume you allude to the fine plant at Courteen 
Hall. Well, in the month of May I saw that plant, in 
company with Fuchsias, Geraniums, &c., standing close 
to a wall under the shelter of laurels; the position it 
generally gets, as an intermediate from a cold house to 
the open flower-clump ; and it was all right and safe, 
when the points of Scarlet Geraniums, and more than 
the points of the f uchsia (Jorymbijtom, &c., were 
blackened and killed by the frosts of the 24th of 
April, and onwards. This plant grows so quickly, that 
a fine standard may be obtained from a cutting in a 
couple of years. When the plant begins to°grow, 
encourage it by as much heat aud moisture as it well 
can stand during summer; rest it a little during winter; 
but never allow the leading point to be stopped until 
you have got it high enough. Any side-shoots must be 
stubbed-in as they appear, leaving a few buds just to 
give stiength to the stem, and remove them clean away 
when the head becomes of such a size us to secure 
a full flow of juices without the assistance of side- 
branches. The general treatment of this plant to suit 
various circumstances has.been previously given. 
STANDARD FUCHSIAS. 
“ How can I obtain some of the hardiest of them, aud 
most easily ?" Have you any strong plants or shoots out- 
of-doors, growing strongly in borders or hedges of Coe- 
emeu, Thompsonian a, gracilis, coniea, Riccartonii.Condlina, 
Sir Henry Pottinger, Glohosa, pallida, &c.? Thin out the 
shoots, so as to leave one or two of the strongest, tie 
these to a stick to encourage upward growth, shorten 
back the whole of the side-shoots, but leaving leafy 
