THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 30. 
parish of Southfleet, in Kent. It growetli, likewise; 
upon stone-walls at Her Alajesty’s (Queen Elizabeth’s,) 
Palace of Richmond, and on most stone-walls of the 
west and north parts of England.” 
It will grow freely on the shady side of rockwork in 
the open air, but the soil must bo composed only of 
sandy peat, old mortar, and fragments of brick in equal I 
proportions. It can bo grown in a Wardian Case, and j 
in a greenhouse, but requires the same soil, perfect I 
drainage, and a frequent change of air. 
The boat time for transplanting this Fern is in April. 
Those growing on a hedge-bank should be preferred for 
transplanting, because, unless the bricks can be taken 
with them, those growing on walls can scarcely be 
moved without a fatal injury to the roots. Those 
growing in the fissures of rocks are moved with quite as 
much difficulty and uncertainty of success as those on 
walls. A^oung plants should be preferred before old ones 
for removal. They should have a bell-glass turned over 
them for a few days after their transplanting. Plants 
already in cultivation may be propagated by division 
also in April. In dividing the tuft, a crown must be 
preserved to each division. 
We have never raised it from seed, but we have no 
doubt that spores collected when rijie in August, and 
sown upon the surface of the soil, such as we have 
directed for the growth of the jdants, covered with a ! 
bell-glqss, and placed in a shady part of a greenhouse, 
or of a cold frame, would give birth to seedlings. 
KEW GARDENS. 
{Oon filmed from jiuge 62.) 
The group of beds on either side of the long walk 
leading up from the old conservatory, which was mo¬ 
dernized in 18-i2, to the lake in front of the large con¬ 
servatory, are very easy to arrange and plant properly, 
and they arc very well planted indeed; but the soil in 
them is entirely exhausted, and not fit to grow Howers, 
without a change. The reason why thej^ are so easy to 
plant is, that every group stands on its own merits, with¬ 
out reference to the grouji you left behind, or to tlie next 
in advance. This stylo is called “ promenade gar¬ 
dening,” and is the simplest ste}) in the system; but no 
otlier step is bettei', or so good, if the groups are kept so 
lar apart as not to seetii to be part of a whole. This is 
a very dift'ercnt system from that along the bottom of 
the terrace-garden at the Crystal Palace; where the 
whole centre, or the parts embraced by the three tran¬ 
septs, is one continuous succession of beds in one line, 
I and not more than tour or five feet apai't, along one side 
I only oi the terrace-walk. 1 forget now how many scores 
ot beds are in that continuous line at Sydenham ; but I 
well recollect there are only three kinds of plants in the 
whole; and two lorm of beds; an oblong square, with 
the corners and ends altered from the square, as at 
Kew, and at the garden of the Horticultural Society; and 
a circle, having the same diameter as the width of the 
square-bed. There is a narrow strip of blue Ijarkspur in 
j the centre ol all the oblong beds; and the blue line is as 
I straight as an arrow the whole length; the rest of the 
bed is of lorn Thumh, and the circle is of Scarlet Ver¬ 
bena; that is, the whole centre of the garden is lined on 
o/w! with scarlet flowers, and in the middle of the 
band ot acai'let is a strip ot dark blue. You might 
' think extravagance could go no further in rich luxuri- j 
I ance of colour, and if you looked at the baud only ; 
I from one end, you would not be far wrong; but walk 
along the terrace, and you will see that the Verbenas are 
only four or five inches high, while the Scarlet Gerani¬ 
ums, on each side of them, are four or five times higher; 
thus cutting off the Verbenas entirely from the end 
view, and neutralizing their colour at every succeeding 
bed the whole way, so that the same effect which is now 
produced might be had without the Verbenas at all; 
therefore, the arrangement is faulty, and the Verbenas a 
loss. 
If this arrangement had been made at Kew in the 
promenade flower-garden, where the beds are set down 
in groups, with a long interval of grass between two 
circular beds of Scarlet Geraniums, to each long bed of 
Scarlet Geraniums, one at each end of the long bed, the 
Verbenas would not be so entirely lost as they are at 
the Crystal Palace; still, they woidd not make each 
group satisfactory, because the two shades of scarlet are 
too near, without any agreement in the heights of the 
plants, or in the styles of their growth. When two beds, 
or two or any number of plants, do not, or cannot, agree 
in colour, height, and style of growth, so as to help 
each other, the next j)lan is to ariange them so as to ' 
give a good contrast, and this is done very effectually in 1 
the promenade at Kew. 'I'here is an oblong bed, with | 
a circular bed at each end of it, in the groups at Kew, 
and just opposite there is a similar group ; then you 
walk on a certain distance, and two more groups )neet 
you, right and left, and so on all the way to the end of 
the promenade ; but there is a blemish in every one of 
the groups, which detracts from the effect which is 
intended; that blemish is a circular bed behind each of 
the oblong beds, which are chiefly filled with half- 
starved Roses; but, fill them with what you will, you 
cannot make them form part of a whole. It is a conceit, 
and, like most conceits, helps to lower your estimation of 
the man, or animal, or thing produced. 
Now, let us begin at the bottom of the promenade, 
and see what flowers there are in each group. The fii'st 
two groups are on the left-hand side, and, unfortunately, 
there is no room for the match groups on the right, 
owing to some old trees coining too near; therefore, the 
first two groups are like two pigs, each with one ear. 
The first group is of Tom Thumb Geraniums in the 
oblong bed, and at each end a bed of dwarf Yellow 
Calceolarias, very good and complete. We shall say 
nothing of the circle for Roses behind Tom. The 
second group is a good, strong Verbena, a lilac flower 
with a pink eye, called Parfum Madeline, with a circle 
of Calceolaria anqilexieaulis at each end of it. The 
third group is double, or matched on each side of the 
walk; the two obloug beds are of the White hihruhland , 
Petunia, iho best white bedder we have of the kind; ■ 
the first two end circles are of the Defiance Verbena, ; 
and the other two Jitibcn's Superb A’^erbena, a shade 
darker than Dejianoe. This, then, is a complete group, - 
and the colours well contrasted, the highest plant in tlie 
middle of the group, as it should be, and the arrange¬ 
ment is perfect of its kind. 
The fourth group has the two oblongs filled with 
a horrid kind of Calceolaria, a little dark brown, 
trumpery concern, which ought to have been burnt, . 
to keep ofl’ witches and bad spells, years ago. Two 
Heliotrojies at one end, and two blue Campanula car- 
patica, which, by-the-by, does not match the Heliotrojie, 
making the group but so-so. How different, if the 
I IJamlet Verbena was in place of the carpatica! d'he 
! two ends would then retrieve the insignificance of the 
! Utile, brown, stupid Calceolaria in the middle. 
I By-the-by, some one sent me a batch of this very 
brown Calceolaria in eighteen hundred and something; 
I planted them alternately with dwarf China Eo&es, 
