March 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
471 
all the world over, for tlioy never try their luck in 
Loudon nor Worcester either. Cheltenham lies in the 
south east corner of the garden of England, with a 
beautiful prospect, and fine climate; it is sheltered from 
the east and north-east winds by the Cotswold Hills, 
which form an immense amphitheatre on that side; to 
the west you can sec as far as the eye can reach, and 
it is open to the south; every kind of soil, from the 
heaviest clay to the most hungry of black sand, is found 
iu the immediate vicinity. It is more fashionablo than 
Bath ; the saline springs are better for all kinds of liver 
complaints than any other in England. With these 
and other advantages, you cau get better Asparagus in 
Cheltenham than anywhere round London ; but I have 
seen very poor Mushrooms come from Cheltenham as 
well as other parts of England. The best Mushrooms 
at this meeting wore from Mr. McEwen, from Arundel 
Castle. The best forced Chicory, or Friar's Beard, or, as 
they say in Covout Garden, Barbe du Capuchin, was 
from Mr. Fleming. 
The best Cucumbers were also from Mr. Fleming ; a 
seedling of his own, with a dash of the Sion House 
Cucumber in it, but is a totally different “ fruit,” being 
a very long, slender, dark green, with white spines, and 
no sign of ribs, very short handled, and the dry flower 
yet on the nose, at twenty iuebes from the stalk. I 
know Cucumbers as well, if not better than most people, 
except Mr. Wild, of Ipswich, and a few more who are half i 
mad about them in that quarter. If it wore not for the 
war and the double income tax, 1 would stake ten to 
four that 1 could get a Suffolk waggoner, near Ipswich, 
who would grow better Cucumbers at less cost than a 
nobleman’s gardener. Mr. Fleming’s Cucumbor would 
not “take” in Ipswich; but from first acquaintance l 
should say it was a most useful kind, and one which 
will drive the Sion House out of the framing ground. 
We had Sea-kale nearly in bloom ! Radishes, as hairy 
as my dog Ossian ! Potatoes like ants eggs ! Lettuces 
like rib-grass! Mushrooms as if they were stamped out 
of old leather boots! and—but I will mention full 
names and residences, if ever I see our money spent 
iu this fashion again. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
The odds and ends, on the contrary, wore most in¬ 
teresting. There was, from the rich museum of Dr. 
Roylo, an immense variety of Indian produce for making 
all sorts of textile fabrics, from a cable rope to a queen’s 
letter-paper; and he was there himself, and could give 
their Indian names, their Sanscrit, and all other names 
onto botanical; their different uses, how much yield 
per acre or per ton, the worth of this, and the market- 
value of that. There was a long web of natural Bark- 
cloth from Borneo, perhaps from Sarawak itself, which 
would do famously for “sheets” during frost, it was so 
soft, so warm, and comfortable-like. This was the inner 
bark of a kind of Paper Mulberry. But all such things 
belong moro to the Society of Arts than to Hortieulturals; 
still, it is right to keep them on the give-and-take 
principle. 
Mr. John Henderson, of Kingskcrswell, sent pieces of 
beautiful paper from the fibre of his China Sugar-cane 
(Holcus saccliaratus). There were many other things in 
the same way to be seen or heard of at the meeting, but 
not much in our way. There was “ cauld Kale from 
Aberdeen,” or, rather, from Mr. Fleming lotting people 
into the secret that Highland Kale stands the frost 
without any harm ; while every blade of all other Kales 
which was above the snow, perished, and those below 
the snow were blanched. In Scotland, they call these 
German Greens. The Borecole, or Scotch Kale, or 
German Greens, round here, were not the least hurt, as 
far as I can see. 
Mrs. Compton, of Blackheath, sent two kinds of 
wicker baskets to stand flower-pots in. The top aud 
bottom rims were seen, but the rest was covered with 
leather, stamped to look like leaves, fruit, and flowers; 
a very good idea, if they can be made cheap. Glass- 
stands are so liable to break, and China-stands are so 
very dear, that many people who would use these con¬ 
trivances for holding or hiding pots on their tables, and 
through the rooms, cannot afford tlio luxury; aud I 
have often thought the cheapest things for such purposes 
would be zinc and gutta-percha; they cau form zinc 
into any pattern, and the outside might be enriched to 
any extent with patterns in gutta-percha, and any tint 
or colour could be given to the gutta-percha. For 
Rustic Baskets, this is the right process to make them 
for the flower garden. Rustic baskets made out of 
pieces of soft wood, and varnished, are, to me, the most 
paltry and trumpery thiugs that ever cockueyism or 
any other ism invented for “ paying through the nose” 
for a thing. But I like the shapes and sizes for height¬ 
ening the interest of small gardens, if one could get 
durable articles to last a lifetime without repairs or 
breaking down. 
There was an ingenious Hoe, with a swan-neck, from 
Mr. Wood, gardener to C. R. Scott Murray, Esq. The 
blade was like that of the common draw-hoe, and from 
the centre of the cutting edge a peak, like a mason’s 
trowel, advanced six inches. A most dangerous imple¬ 
ment in the hands of a daft body; but really a good tool 
when you get used to it. D. Beaton. 
SPERMADICTYON AZUltEUM. 
The above plant is also rather generally known 
under the name of Hamiltonia scabra, commemorative 
of Mr. Hamilton, a Philadelphian botanist, who, it is 
said, erected the first house for exotic plants in North 
America. 
The plant is an evergroen in Nepaul; but when cul¬ 
tivated in a cool plant-stove, or a warm greenhouse, it 
becomes next thing to deciduous, and succeeds quito as 
well as when rendered more overgreen iu its appearance 
by a greater degree of heat. As a winter-flowering plant, 
it is well worthy of cultivation, producing its pale lilac- 
blue flowers along the upper part of the young shoots of 
the current year. The following points will embrace 
the characteristics of its management;— 
1. Propayation. —This is easily done by two modes. 
First, when the plant has finished flowering, the shoots 
pruned off may be cut in pieces, having a bud at the 
base, and another at the extreme end. Cut clean across 
at the base of the former, and in a sloping manner, lialf- 
au-iuch above the latter. Insert these cuttings in sand, 
in a well-drained pot, aud plunge iu bottom-heat. These 
will strike, but they require a fair amount of time. The 
second mode is to wait until the young shoots break 
from two to three inches iu length after pruning back. 
In fact, if many cuttings were wanted, the points of the 
shoots should merely bo removed, and the pruning left 
until a sufficiency of young shoots were procured, as 
lately recommended for Clerodendrons. These young 
cuttings should be slipped off close to the old stem; the 
base of the cutting dressed there by removing a few of 
the lower small leaves, and then bo inserted round the 
side of a small pot, three-parts filled with drainage, and 
then a little sandy-peat, covered with silver-sand; the 
small pot then placed inside a larger one, tho space 
botweeu filled with sand, and the bell-glass to stand 
between the rims of tho two pots. A little air will 
require to be given at night, more especially if the pot 
is plunged to its rim in a sweet hotbed of from 75° to 
80°, and top-heat from 05° to 75°. These last will make 
