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October 16. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 35 ! 
Geraniums. No. 8. Purple centre, scarlet round, and | 
blue Larkspur edge. No. 9. Crimson centre, a broad ! 
band of light lilac, another white circle, and an edge of • 
ZelUula. 
After the Dahlias come the Rosery, a circular mount 
of considerable elevation, with a flat top. A circular 
walk goes all round the bottom of the Rose mount; and 
from this walk, six other walks branch off at equal dis¬ 
tances, curving up to the mount; owing to the angle of 
tho curve, which each walk makes, there is room for a 
large angle bed, or true corner bed, on one side of each of 
the six walks, but not on the other sides. All these, 
and the other angle beds at the Crystal Palace, are cut 
out true to art, except the two farthest from the centre 
in each of tho chain-pattern panels. An angle bed, 
where two walks meet, or branch off, ought to have the 
two sides next the two walks straight or curved, accoi’d- 
ing as the walks are straight or curved ; the point of the 
bed should also correspond with the point of the edging, 
whether it is grass or box, rounded or sharp, and the 
broad end may bo of any fancy shape, or curve. Y^ou 
cannot put a circle, or an oval, or a star, or heart, or 
pear-shaped bed, in an angle, without violating the first 
law of lines and forms; a short, dumpy bed, never looks 
well in an angle; but you often see all these defects in 
some gardens, though not at the Crystal Palace, with 
the above exceptions. 
The six angle bods turning up to the Rose mount 
here are thus planted; the first is Mrs. Woodroof 
Verbena, edged with Lobelia ramosa. This new 
Verbena makes a famous bed, and the edging could not 
be better. The second angle bod is Calceolaria angusti- 
folia, edged with purple Verbena; tho third is with 
Ageratmn Mexicaniim, trained down so as to be about 
fourteen or fifteen inches high, and a rich edge of the 
variegated Alyssum. The whole of the tops of the 
Ageratum shoots are on a dead level, and the edging as 
round, full, and even as if it came out of a mould. The 
fourth bed is of Horse-shoe Scarlet Qeranium of medium 
size, edged with a bluish-purple Verbena. The fifth, of 
the plain, or green variety of the old crimson-flowered 
Qeranium; and the sixth, of purple Zelinda Dahlia, 
edged with white Petunia closely trained, and producing 
a very good effect. Beds of Lucia rosea Geranium; of 
Unique cerise, edged with Emma Verbena; of Shnib- 
lond Rose Petunia; of Oaillardia picta; Nieremiergia 
gracilis; of scarlet and variegated Oeraniums, of sorts; 
white Verbenas and Heliotropes are placed in pairs along 
the curved walks up the Rose mount. Each pair of , 
beds stands on its own bottom, without much reference 1 
to the next pair; and that is a comfort, if only to prove I 
such and such flowers in a new garden before they are ! 
admitted into an arrangement of colours. ^ 
In one pair of these circular promenade beds there is j 
an excellent arrangement for a centre bod in a group ; i 
one is Mangle’s variegated, and the opposite one is of I 
the old variegated scarlet Geranium, if not crimson, and j 
both are mixed with Mignonette, which is kept in check i 
so as to appear equally strong all over the surface, and 
to form only one-third of the mass of leaves, shoots, and 
flowers. This is exceedingly good, and well worth imi¬ 
tating, but requires constant attention all tho season. 
D. Beaton. 
Alcohol from Pea-Pods. —The Green Pea season, 
and the scarcity of alcohol, gave rise to a previously un¬ 
known trade in Paris. Pea-pods have been, from time 
immemorial, in France at least, considered as perfectly 
worthless, and have been allowed to encumber the pig-stye 
in consequence. The collecting of this rejected matter be¬ 
tween tho hours of seven and nine in the morning, became 
a regular occupation, and was followed by that class of 
persons who, during the remainder of the day, pick up 
the ends of cigars. Pea-pods yield alcohol as abun- ' 
dantly, it has been found, as the beet-root or as pump¬ 
kins. In England, a sort of mild beer has been ob- , 
tained from them, with the admixture of sage and hops. ! 
In Paris, peas arc always sold shelled. Those that shell j 
them divide them into three sorts, big, middling, and 
little. Tho littlest are the dearqst, as they are the 1 
sweetest. i 
KEW GARDENS. 
Having seen the Crystal Palace gardens, I went to i 
Kew the day after, and to Hampton Court tlie day after 
that. I did intend to see the Chiswick Garden, that | 
is to say, the garden of the Horticultural Society, and ! 
that of the Duke of Devonshire at Chiswick House, ! 
which, though not a public garden, so called, is, through 
the liberality of His Grace, public enough for fair 
criticism. 
These, with the garden of the Royal Botanic Society 
at the Regent’s Park, being the principal gardens round 
London, one may learn in them the state and progress 
of flower-gardening just as well as by travelling far 
into the country; for, no sooner is a move made in the 
right or wrong direction in any part of the country, but , 
it is knoy^n in London, and of all the peoples on the 
face of the earth, the Londoners are the most alive to 
public or private opinions when expressed in black and 
white; so that a “notion” in tho farthest corner of 
tho land, on any gardening matters, has only to be 
broached to-day, and by this day week it is flx#d by the 
press, and before the month is out it may become the 
law of the land, and the practice on the beds and borders; 
or it may be laughed out of countenance at once, and 
for ever. But the latter rains came on too soon for all 
the visits; still I have more in store from the parts i 
visited than I can well get out before it is time to turn ' 
a new leaf. , 
The plants were all but housed for the winter at Kew ! 
when I called. I have seen the collection almost every i 
year, from 1831 to 1852, when I last called there. I ■ 
have known the ups and downs of the establishment, , 
and many of the springs by which the different move- j 
ments were made during that time. I was the first of { 
all the gardeners who knew that the Government of the { 
day made an offer of Kew Gardens to tho Horticultural 
Society as if it were dead lumber. Two hours after 
that offer was made, I had a notice of the fact in the 
hands of the post-office, for tho use and information of ' 
Her Majesty’s opposition, and “ to morrow night ” the 
Government were “ pulled up ” for the rascality. “ The 
Di’el amang the tailors ” was nothing to the row which en¬ 
sued, and which was the culminating point in the fortunes 
of the Kew Gardens. But the tide in the “ nftairs” of 
this garden turned the right way at last, and has been 
rising from that day to this in all parts of the garden, j 
except, perhaps, the botanical herbaceous ground, which 
is badly laid out, and as badly arranged as any col¬ 
lection I ever saw, public or private; but the fault is in 
the system—a system which has been tried, and failed j 
in many parts of tho three kingdoms, and on the conti- j 
nent of Europe everywhere, except where it is backed j 
up, as it is at Kew, with public money drawn from the ' 
taxes on the people. Of all the taxes, that is the only j 
one that I begrudge—I mean, what is spent for huddling ; 
together tho most ugly plants of all the principal orders, 
after the manner of a flower-garden. Out of acres of ! 
land, and hundreds, if not thousands of plants, not a : 
flower could be found but of the Asters and a few extra 
plants on the wall borders, the rest were of the Hortus 
siccus stamp, to the very letter. 
After all, I must beg pardon. Botanic collections are 
not for flowers, but for lecturing on, to show how 
