THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
07 
May l.j 
the bed has been celebrated for many years as the best in 
the kingdom, it will distribute more good flowers over the 
country than has ever been sold in any three seasons. How¬ 
ever, the advertisement will contain particulars. 
The Sewage Company and some of those who have 
had their pipes laid on, are at loggerheads about the 
payment for the supply last year. The agreement 
having been for the sewage, and the gardeners having 
been supplied with water, the works not having been 
completed. One thing is quite certain, the water was 
of the greatest service to the crops, and it is supposed 
the misunderstanding will end in a compromise. 
The works for the supply of the sewage from one of the 
principal sewers are nearly complete. The company have 
been laying out enormous sums of money, and we have 
always had our doubts whether there could, under any cir¬ 
cumstances, be a profitable return. The Fulham gardeners 
are the only ones at present supplied. 
The King of the Dahlias, which has been shown, one 
of the most perfect models in existence, has been let 
out in dry roots, and we hope it may not lead to that 
strange mode of forcing which we too well know has ere 
now totally altered the constitution of a plant; excessive 
propagation is said to injure a plant; but we draw a 
very distinct line between excessive propagation and 
that kind of treatment which destroys the very nature 
of a plant. 
The late Mr. Girling was exceedingly unfortunate in 
some of his plants of the Dahlia; others, who are set down 
as very bad judges or very bad men, because of the number 
of bad things sold at high prices, may have been equally 
unfortunate, and have had plants change their very nature. 
Making hundreds of plants from one root, if not hurried, 
may not disturb the quality, but half the number may 
destroy its constitution, if forced. Suppose the mere number 
taken from a plant to affect the quality, the first would be 
good and the last the worst; but we maintain, that although 
some Dahlias would not be affected by forcing, others would 
be altogether changed. We once visited a Dahlia grower 
when he had just planted all his dry roots of new things in 
his pit, and the glass w r as then at 90°. We asked if he was 
not afraid of so much heat ? He said, “ No ; he should have 
it higher when their shoots appeared.” We observed that it 
was enough to destroy the constitution of a plant to force it 
into such rapid growth. However, he knew best; but the 
most promising flower he had, turned out not worth growing, 
though it had been shown well the season before. We care 
. nothing about heat to strike the cuttings when off, but we 
maintain that, to force the growth of the shoots at railroad 
pace, risks the very constitution of the plant. Watkinson’s 
Queen of Sheba, Browne’s Marchioness of Ormond, Tren- 
field’s Lady Stopford, Francis’s Polka, and Wynnes’s Duke 
of Cambridge, were shown the proving season, beautiful 
models of flowers. Not one of them were worth twopence 
when they came out. Things do not change without a cause; 
and we believe nothing more likely to affect a plant than 
forcing its first growth ; for the very first cutting is likely to 
be as bad as the last. The King of the Dahlias will have a 
chance both ways ; but the owner is the one to depend on 
for a plant that will do service. 
The Dahlia seems to have fairly struck out a new 
| class for itself, and novelties upon the old fashioned 
models are useless, however much may be said in their 
favour. The Duke of Wellington, Fearless, Scarlet Gem, 
Yelloiu Standard, Sir Frederick Bathurst, Princess 
Radzville, the Marchioness of Cornwallis, and some two 
or three others, when not overgrown, may he seen so 
perfect, as to make all the rest on a stand look poor and 
coarse; and new ones, to he worth an amateur’s notice 
l 
as show flowers, must be of their character. 
Roundness of outline, closeness of the petals, fulness on 
the face, and symmetry, can alone justify the adoption of a 
new flower for exhibition purposes ; but of sixty or eighty 
new flowers shown last autumn, there were not half a dozen 
that could be called an advance on any of the hundreds 
already cheap and common. Well, therefore, may amateurs 
[ call for an honest description of a few of the best to guide 
them in their choice; well may they hesitate when they ; 
want a few, and have fifty or a hundred all recommended as 
good. We do not wonder at thoughtful men, of limited 
means, declining to buy the first-rate, because they cannot 
afford to buy second-rate things at high prizes. Nor are 
the certificates and prizes obtained by a new variety any 
guide for their quality. So it is, that unless they consult 
some authority which they can depend on, they have no cer¬ 
tainty in buying the first season. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Pleasing Rogiera ( Rogiera atneena). — We have 
already alluded to this new and very beautiful flowering 
plant, at page 879 of the present volume, as having been 
named after M. Rogier, one of the cabinet ministers of 
King Leopold, by Dr. Planchon, in a Belgian work 
(Flore des Serres, t. 442). We have seen a figure of the 
plant, with descriptions, in the Gardeners Magazine of 
Botany, and we have since looked over accounts of other 
genera and species, which are very nearly related to 
Rogiera, and from the whole we are much disposed to 
believe that Dr. Planchon has been deceived in this 
plant, and that it will be found to be only a species of ; 
Hedyotis, or Indian Madder; so called from the roots of ; 
Hedyotis umhellata being employed in India for staining | 
nankin. Hedyotis heads one of the eleven sections . 
(Hedyotidae) into which the order of Cinchonads (Cin- j 
chonacese) is now divided. Linnaeus, Decandolle, and 
Endlicher, with some half dozen more botanists, have 
been led astray through the difficulty of determining the 
species belonging to the Indian Madder; hence the i 
genus is loaded already with many synonyms, Endlicher 
and Rafinesque having each framed three genera from 
as many of its species, and Wight and Arndt as many 
more. Even Decandolle raised two of the species to the 
dignity of generic distinction; and judging from the 
