no 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[May 22. 
; 
which were David Copperfield, with a grey disc, belted with 
rosy crimson ; Lettice Arnold, rosy purple and white, large, 
and of a compact habit; Renville, violet blue, with a belt of 
white round the disk ; Lady Gertrude, deep blue self, broad 
petals, habit dwarf and compact; Nymph, white, with dark 
disc; Pauline, violet plum self, very distinct, fine form, and 
excellent habit. From the same firm came a splendid plant 
of Azalea magnijica, covered with its semi-double rosy 
crimson blossom ; also, a fine high-coloured seedling Ama¬ 
ryllis, named Professor Liebeg ; a pretty Heath, named 
Victoria ; a hybrid allied to E. aristata ; and the pretty 
Cheiranthus Marshallii , a hybrid with large golden flowers, 
of a good form ; also, a pretty Geranium, named White 
Unique, which promises to be an useful bedding variety. 
Mr. Bragg, of Slough, sent a fine pan of Pansies in excellent 
condition. Mr. Epps an Erica, named E. tricolor Eppsii. 
Mr. Ayres sent some well-bloomed fancy Geraniums; and 
Mr. Ivery a Pelargonium, named Lilac Unique. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Round-leaved Myrtle (Myrtus orbiculatus). — Bota¬ 
nical Magazine, t. 4558.—We are glad to have here an 
opportunity of laying the whole management of the cot¬ 
tager’s peculiar plant, the Myrtle, before the readers of 
The Cottage Gardener, from the works of the best and 
most practical gardener of the last, if not even of the 
present, century, Philip) Miller. But we must, in the 
first instance, chronicle a few particulars relative to the 
family pedigree and connections, as is our wont in these 
biographies. Tournefort is the author of the name, 
which is of Greek origin, and is synonymous, or nearly 
so, with fragrance. Some modern authors have given 
out that Linnaeus first named the Myrtle, which is not 
correct. Dr. Brown, in 1814, named all the plants 
which are related to the Myrtle, botanically, Myrtacecc, 
which word is well translated in the present English 
name of the order, Myrtleblooms. Of these there are i 
more than twelve hundred species already described, J 
some of which, as the Gum trees of New Holland, j 
according to Mr. Backhouse, attain the height of two | 
hundred feet, and “ rise as nearly as high as the Monu¬ 
ment without branching.” Others, as the Akee of New 
Zealand (. Metrosideros buxifolia), climb by their ivy-like 
roots to the tops of the highest trees on the island (See j 
Cottage Gardener, vol. 5, page 95). From these lofty j 
aspirations in the savage wilds, Myrtleblooms descend 
into every conceivable stature to the size of our common 
Thyme, as in the Falkland Islands, where the Grove 
Myrtle (M. nummularia ) carpets the ground. Notwith¬ 
standing such diversity, and the large number of species, 
Myrtleblooms form one of the most natural of all the 
natural orders of plants, and the easiest to recognise at 
first sight. Dotted entire leaves, in opposite pairs, and 
without stipules, but with a veiu running round the 
margin, are the undeviating signs of a Myrtlebloom in 
vigorous health. The common Myrtle varies more than 
any of them in the position of the leaves, some being 
opposite and some not. But we hasten to lay Miller’s 
treatment of the common Myrtle before the reader. 
After naming the different varieties of the common Myrtle, 
Miller goes on to say, “ These plants may all he propagated 
from cuttings, the best season for which is in the beginning 
of July, when you should make choice of some of the straitest 
and most vigorous young shoots, which should be about six 
or eight inches long; and the leaves on the lower part must 
be stripped off about two or three inches high, and the part 
twisted which is to be placed in the ground." “ Then, having 
filled a parcel of pots with light rich earth, you should plant 
the cuttings therein at about two inches distance from each 
other, observing to close the earth fast about them, and give 
them some water to settle it to the cuttings ; then place the 
pots under a common hot-bed frame, plunging them either 
into some old dung or tanner’s bark, which will prevent the 
earth from drying too fast; but you must carefully shade 
them with mats from the heat of the day, and give them air 
in proportion to the warmth of the season, not forgetting to 
water them every two or three days. In about six weeks the 
cuttings will be rooted and begin to shoot, when you must 
inure them to the open air by degrees, into which they 
should be removed by the end of August, placing them 
where they may be sheltered from cold winds, whence they 
should be removed into the greenhouse in October, and be 
placed in the coldest part thereof, for they only require to 
be protected from severe cold. 
“ If these pots are placed under a common hot-bed frame 
in winter, where they may be screened from the frost, and 
have the free air in mild weather, the young plants will suc¬ 
ceed better than in a greenhouse, and are not kept closely 
covered, which will occasion their growing mouldy and drop¬ 
ping their leaves. 
“ The spring following, these plants should he taken out 
of the pots very carefully, preserving a ball of earth to the 
roots of each of them, and every one of them should be 
placed into a separate, small pot, filled with light rich earth, 
observing to water them well to settle the earth to the roots; 
after which place them under a frame until they have taken 
root, after which they should be inured to the open air, and 
in May they must be placed abroad for the summer, where 
they may be sheltered from strong winds. 
“ During the summer season they will require to be plenti¬ 
fully watered, or be placed where they only receive the 
morning sun ; for when they are too much exposed to the 
heat of the sun the moisture in the earth will soon be 
exhaled, and the plants greatly retarded in their growth 
thereby. 
“ In August shift them into pots a size larger, filling them 
with rich earth, trim the roots which are matted to the side 
of the pots, and loosen the earth from the outside of the 
