October 30. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
07 
1 
round a dial, or a pedestal ; that is, three little beds of 1 
Pioses, and lliree of Calceolarias aforesaid; but, as soon ; 
as 1 saw the dirly little things, 1 ])ulled every one ol'j 
them up and tlirew them away, so tliat f cannot bear j 
tlie blame of the kind being yet at Kew. However, 
perhaps they are botanically interesting, and if so, I 
iiave nothing to say against them on that score. [ 
Retweeu the fourth and lifth grouj)3 a walk crosses j 
the promenade, and in the angles ot the crossings are i 
two F/mver of the Day Geraniums, and two Ageratum», > 
very good, v( 3 ry proper, and very distinct from the main j 
groups. The fifth group has tlie two oblongs planted 
with Calceoluria angustifoUa, and the four circles, two 
at each end, with one kind of Verbena, a Erench one, 
called Brilliant tie Vaisc, a large, bright scarlet flower. 
This group, therefore, is quite perfect in all the parts. 
Group sixth, the two oblongs with Ageratum, two 
cii’cles with Variegated Alyssum, and the other two 
circles with Verbena Eclipse. The two ends of this 
group aro, therefore, in direct oppositioir. 
Group seven, two oblong beds Shruhland White 
Petania again, with four kinds of Purple Verbenas in 
the four end circles. If the four purples were new | 
seedlings, I would call this the experimental group, to j 
prove which was the best purple Verbena; but no 
doubt they wore “proved” before this trial, and the four 1 
match to a tee. The names aro Royal Purple, AndrS, | 
Purple King, and Matchless. Andre was in full bloom, j 
and the others were all but done for the season ; there- j 
fore, Andre is the best purple Verbena for Kew, but it 
might not be so at Surbiton. In the terrace garden, in 
front of the largo conservatory, this same Andre is put 
in competition with other purples, and it rivals them all. : 
Group eight was planted with Scarlet Geranium 
Punch, in the two oblong beds; two of the circles were 
with White Campanula carpatica, and the other two 
circles Variegated Ageratum; thei'efore, the low white 
Campanula was badly matched by a tall variegated 
plant. 
Group eight has no claims to good match-making, 
but Punch was so very good, and such an old friend, 
from a good match by your humble servant, that I could 
not be hard on such a group, which is, or was, the last 
in that direction. 
From the top of the promenade, we turn to the right 
for the terrace-garden, and, before we reach it, we pass 
another group, which, being in tbe same style as the 
last, I shall call number nine. 'Hie two oblong beds 
are planted with Petunia Oem, a kind with the aspect of 
Shruhland Rose, but with a grey eye. The four circles 
wore of Oazania unijiora. These four were the most 
perfect flower-beds I ever saw. You could not toll one 
of them from the other, by an extra leaf or flower, or by 
a greater or less height or fulness. If the four came out 
of tbe same mould they could not be more perfect. Old 
plants, and very poor soil, ought to make this a good 
bedder anywhere; but good, fresh soil makes it run to i 
leaf and shoot too much, and plants of it, from spring j 
cuttings, in a wet summer, the same. ... ! 
We now reach the terrace-garden, which is in two 
separate parts. A walk from the front door of the 
conversatory divides it into two parts on the side of the 
lake, and another walk from the opposite front divides ^ 
the American Garden, also into two parts, but each j 
part on either side of the house is a repetition of the 
other part. This style of terrace-garden is the easiest 
to read of, there can be no intricacy about the planting, f 
—and nothing in the arrangement of the colours, or 
heights of the plants, which would not tell on the eye 
at the first glance, just as easily as you could see if a 
pair of horses were of the same colour, same breed, 
same height, and otherwise matched perfectly. If any , 
two of the members were placed,^ or had grown the 
wrong wav; if the two oars, for instance, weio back 
foremost, it would make tlie head look odd. Yet tbe 
horse iniglit be as strong, and liear just as well as if the 
ears were as usual. Now, that is exactly the way with 
terrace-gardens in two ]»arts, the one bi ing a. veilex of 
the other. You can see, in a moment, if you know the 
thing, as well as you did the horses, if one bed is out of 
])lace, if one ear is longer, or one plant taller than 
the other. A black eye, and a red eye, would look as you 
know they would, and beds look just as suspicious if 
they cone out of the common course of high art and 
management; and so with every jilant, and bed, and 
flower, in the largest garden in the world. First, find 
out the indox by which to read a flower-garden, and 
the difficulty of understanding it does not lie in the ex¬ 
tent, but in the ^art of the language, and the grammar 
and the spelling being not according to our language, 
and the way of putting it together. 
When I meet with a garden which is all Greek, I can¬ 
not make it out, and I say nothing about it; but the 
terrace-garden at Kew is plain English. It has been in 
good bloom in July and August, but by the time I called 
it was much on the decline, many of the beds being 
entirely out of bloom for the season. The first half of 
it is planted thus—a bod of Unique Geranium, and one 
of the little, dirty, brown Calceolaria at the north end; 
one bed of Ariosto Verbena, a very good purple; four 
match beds of 3Iont Bhtnc Verbena, also very good; 
two beds of tbe Garland Verbena, a blush-white, with a 
stain in the eye, a very good, light bedder, for a light, 
poor soil; two Verbena beds of Hamlet, tho right grey 
to mix in equal quantities with Heliotrope, so as to get 
three times the quantity of flowers from a Heliotrope 
bed; two beds of Calceolaria AngustifoUa ; four beds of 
Defiance Verbena, very good; two beds of Calceolaria 
Frostii, entirely over for the season by tho 20th of Sep¬ 
tember, therefore not fit for bedding at Kew; and one 
bed of Emma Verbena, the match bod to Ariosto. 
In the second or south half of the terrace tho colours 
are reversed, thus, beginning and ending with the same 
beds, for Ariosto say Lobelia ramosoides; for two 
Garland Verbena, say two Calceolaria Frostii; for 
white, say Tom Thumb ; for Hamlet, say two Verbena 
Hippodamic, a light blush, with a stained eye; then 
Andre Verbena in perfect bloom, and opposite to it 
Matchless, about as dark as Emma, all but done for tbe 
season; two Puiple King Verbena, all over also; and 
two Frogmore Scarlets, to correspond with Unique and 
brown Calceolaria. AVe have an attempt at two shot- 
silk beds at the south end; and here the old Scarlet 
Variegated Geranium \s labelled Mangles Variegated!!! 
and with it is an old lilac variegated. 
D. Beaton. 
Hollyhocks. —As the Hollyhock is now become a 
general favourite, admired for its tall, stately stems, 
thickly studded with rosette-like flowers of various 
colours, we annex a list of the best sorts, premising 
that it is of the easiest cultivation, either by sowing the 
seeds in the open ground, in April, for general assort¬ 
ment, or by increasing the more select and choice sorts 
by offsets or cuttings in spring. Beauty of Cheshunt — 
rose; extra fine. Emperor —deep rose; large, bold 
flower; flne form and spike. Eva —delicate light peach; 
large, smooth, and fine Emily —transparent blush ; 
smooth, full, and fine. Eugenie —saftron, shaded; fine 
form. Felicia —amethyst; fine form; close spike. 
Glory of Cheshunt —'bright yellow. Hope —light crimson- 
rose ; very fine. Honble. Mrs. Ashley —bright rosy- 
pink ; large, close, fine spike; extra fine. Lady 
Braybroolie —rosy-crimson; fine. Lizzy —clear peach; 
very large, smooth, and finely formed; a magnificent 
flower; extra fine. Ijcmon Queen —bright lemon, new 
shade of colour. Mrs. Hooper —blush; dark chocolate 
