Decejider 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
181 
that these hardy vines tVoiii North America would make 
oxcolleiit stocks to work our hothouse grapes on, in pro- 
I'erence to growing thorn on their own tet)der roots as at 
present,—a very c.Kcellcnt idea as it appears to me. 
j Alter the above, 1 noted a low out-of-tlio-way plants 
which are suitable lor a wilderness or for rough banks. 
Urlicd nivea —a kind of notlle—a largo, bushy shrub, 
witli rough, broad leaves, having the underside quite 
white, and when they arc moved about by the wind, 
they look singular and very interesting. Another one, 
of tlic Currant family, called Ribes ferux, looks as liercc 
and wild as a porcupine. Out of all their herbaceous 
plants, the two which ajipearcd to me to bo most suited 
lor a wilderness part of a garden, were I’hylobtvcK de- 
crindi'd, the American I’oko, lately described, and Pyre- 
thruni tfcrot'mum, a very scarce herbaceous ]»huit, reaching 
nine or ten feet liigb, with stems and leaves not mucli 
stouter tlian those of a Michaelmas Daisy, and bearing 
large clusters of white composite llowers on the top, the 
individual flowers being also largo, and easy to be seen 
a long v/ay oil'. Whoever grows the old Astdmamn.tiina, 
will lind a good match for it in this Pyrethnim. Among 
these trees I shall notice particularly the Maiden-hair 
'I'roe, Sididntria ndian!ij'olia, one of the finest specimens 
of it I ever saw; it is a tree that will grow as easily as 
a 'I’horn-trcc, and every one who ])lants otight to liavo 
this one among the first. Knelreulci'id iidnicuhUa, 
from China, is another of those fancy trees which every 
one who wishes to excel in gardening ought to plant. 
In all the universities hero they teach, among other 
things, an old Roman doctrine, which says, that “ it 
I becomes all men who asjiire to excel (in gardening, let 
us say), to labour with their utmost might, not to [lass 
their life” so-and-so, like so-and-so, but to let the rest of 
the world understand that they, at any rate, shall not 
bo left behind in the race of garilcn improvements. 
Instead of jdanting ton or twenty trees of one sort, 
peoiile of this casto would rather plant ten or twenty 
dill'erent sorts of trees, if they only knew the names of 
the best sorts. The Koclrculerin is as pretty going to 
rest, with its deep, yellow, pinnated leaves, as when 
tho cud of every branch is in full bloom, on large, loose 
panuicles, bearing first, small yellow llowers, and after¬ 
wards, large, bladdery secd-])ods or capsules. 'I'hc first 
' tree that attracted my notice, on passing the garden-gate, 
was a full-grown specimen of the true Service-tree {Pyrus 
dotnest.im) loaded with fruit; here is another tree one 
hardly sees in a day’s march. The Manna-troe, {Oniun 
Enrojtceux), a very, very slow-growing tree at first, is a 
beautiful specimen hero, and so with many others, for 
which I have no room to-day for mentioning them. 
'J’here is a wide ditcli on tho south side of the garden, 
and a large pond near the bottom of the garden, in the 
same direction, and it was astonishing to mo to see how 
many water-plants, I'rom tho stoves, they contrived to 
grow in them all tho summer, without any more care 
than at first to fix them in their places. Those who 
doubt that most of our stove plants cannot be trusted 
out-of-doors in tho height of summer, and through the 
autumn, ought to visit Oxford to sec these aquatics 
smothering each other with their luxuriant growth. 
' Of an op)iosite family of plants, the Succulents, they 
have the best and cleanest-growing specimens in Eng¬ 
land, and a vast number of species of the difl’ercnt forms 
of Aloes, Mesemhryiuithemums, Oacalins, Crassulas, and 
so forth, but not many of tlie Cactus family. Many of 
these curious, gouty plants are enough to make one 
laugh to look at them. A whole row, on an upper shelf, 
of little, tiny Mesembryanthemums, their leaves fringed 
all round with rows of teeth, and standing in pairs 
facing each other, like the jaws of so many jnqqiies of 
all the dog tribes, and all the cats, and other grinning 
creatures at full jday, such as caninum, aynimun, vidpi- 
num, liqnniim, tiyrinum, feliiiuin, murinum, mustelliniim, 
erminum ; while ohonrdoUiim, testicidarc, rnuricalum, bl/i- 
dum, spinosum, rostratum, tuberosum, mnniliforme, tauri- 
num, and a dozen more of such like, put you in mind 
of all the drolleries in a toy-shoji; and the best of it is, 
that you could put a score of full-grown plants of most 
of these into a night-cap ; that a little thnmh-pot is 
large enough to grow any one of them ; that a little 
water once or twice a-week in summer, and once in 
three weeks or a month in winter, will do for them; 
also that silver sand will do to grow them in ; but they 
will grow in anything : then tell me if it is not worth 
while to go all the way to Oxford to learn this; and 
yet the best part about succulent plants is not told, and 
cannot be told to-day. Among these succulents arc two 
which we might call silver plants, they are so white; they 
are Echeveria farinosa and jndvendenta, that is, mealy 
and j)owdery-looking. There is one plant of tho Soco- 
torine Aloe, tho finest specimen of the kind, perhaps, in 
c.xistenco, it is so perfect all over, so bushy, so healthy, 
and so heavy, that four men would find it a good ]mll to 
raise it into a barrow, and yet tbe s]iecimon is not bigger 
than a full-grown geranium at the London shows. 
Whether it is the air, tho chalky soil, or tho great 
attention they receive, 1 cannot tell; but there is 
nothing about London which will come near to tho 
succulents at Oxford for vigour, symmetry of growth, 
and cleanliness. I’erhaps Crassula per/ossa is as sin¬ 
gular as any of the tribe : tho leaves of this species 
might almost bo called versatile, that is, they are so 
slightly “attached to the stem that tlu^y may be turned 
round at ])leasuro.’’ When (Mr. Eisb has a week to 
spare, he ought to look round f.ondon, and sec where 
the best succulents are to bo had, and, between us, wo 
could make up a fine selection for amateurs who cannot 
grow any other kind of plants. \Vc could [tick up a 
dozen sorts that would answer for balconies, terraces, 
and terrace-gardens, better than the more fashionable 
plants now in use, because of the novelty of the thing, 
and the little care needed to look after them, i’erhaps 
.Mr Appleby—now that he has a shoj) of his own—• 
would hunt out for us the best of the pan Aloes, tree 
Aloes, and other suitable ones from the other sections. 
[ shall close this section with a wonder- —a real tree- 
pink— ■ Dianthus frulicosus. I never saw it, or tbe 
like of it before : it bas a stem as rougb and rugged, 
and as woody as any plant in tbe garden, and if the 
shoots and loaves were cut oil', no one could make out 
the trunk from that of an elm tree dwarfed by a China¬ 
man. Even as it was, had it not been in flower, 1 
could hardly bring myself to believe that it was a pink 
at all! D. Beaton. 
{To be couliiiiiat.) 
TRIFJ.ES TO BE THOUGHT ABOl.TT WITH 
REGAlll) 'J’O ri.ANTS IN PITS, fee. 
It is (]uitc [tossiblo to have too much of a good thing. 
'I’lie lady, so admirably ]iourtrayed in a late number, 
found this to be tho case in regard to the abundance of 
fruit her garden yielded. Overllowiug beniticcnce was 
no blessing to her! Many, who nobly bullet with the 
storms of adversity, lose all balance and self-control 
when the gale of prosperity conres. Nothing but real 
evils would ever cure the Mrs. St. Clairs ot society oi 
their imaginary woes. Necessity is tho chief spur to 
energy and existence. Without it, there may bo striv¬ 
ings and splendid realizations among the few, but there 
would be sloth and sluggishness, mentally and physi¬ 
cally, among tho many. What holds true of matters in 
general, holds e([ually true in gardening. Pine weather 
is not unfrcqucntly permitted to do more mischief than 
the stoi'in. A dull, mild autumn and winter will leave 
more empty j)ots behind them than an tinusual amount 
