July 21. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
301 
able to bear it. The flowers purple-crimson towards 
the mouth, and orange-scarlet at the bottom, nearly the 
1 same shape as the flower of Erica ventricosa, two inches 
long, and looking not unlike a shrubby JEschynanth at 
a little distance. 
Veronica variegata. —A (hybrid plant and a beau¬ 
tiful one. It was also in Mr. Veitch’s collection of new 
plants. This is a fine cross from salicifolia, by the 
pollen of speciesa, and the variegata is seen in 
the flowers, which are in heads of long spikes; the 
bottom of the spike is of white flowers, the middle part 
French-white flowers, and the ends bright pink, with 
| protruding stamens; the whole looking as much like 
; artificial flowers as anything could be. This is exactly 
the kind of flower which looks so well in the hair, not 
; as wreaths, but as single spikes or bunches, and they 
l will stand all tossings about in a polka or fairy dance ; 
! and the new bonnets are now so open in front, that 
flowers never had so much chance to set off a fine- 
looking face to the best advantage. W hat an open 
| contrast to the ugly, close bonnets which came out in 
i 1848; the ladies had to walk under them , but now they 
can walk comfortably in front of their new bonnets ! 
In such a mode, they cannot have too many flowers, 
and the Veronica variegata is a new style ot flower to 
suit the present fashion to the letter, besides being one 
of the best exhibition plants, and a hardy greenhouse 
plant to boot. 
The new Philesia buxifolia was there also: a small 
plant, with seven large flowers open. What a beautiful 
little plant it is! 
Also six more pots of the new yellow Leptosiphon, the 
gayest of the lot. There was a new Hoy a, looking much 
like the old Honey-plant, but the flowers are different— 
pure white, with deep divisions or lobes to the corolla; 
it is well worth having; the name is fraterna. There 
was a cut flower of a very curious Arum, from Smyrna, 
with a long, dark-purple spathe, and the spadix, or long 
cylinder, on which the flowers come, was as black as my 
hat, and as long nearly as my arm. 
Begonia Prestonensis, —A new cross seedling,^ of 
which I heard a good deal, was there also, but I confess 
I was quite disappointed with it. I saw two crosses ot 
this family last autumn that are far superior to it, and 
there is not a word of truth in the parentage given for 
this cross. There is nothing in which we are so far 
behind as in the genealogy of our garden crosses. It 
we said that so and so were a cross between Poppies 
and Horseradish, we should be no whit behind some of 
our genealogists. Nitida was said to be the pollen 
• parent of Prestonensis, but nothing even of the section 
to which nitida belongs is manifest on the face ot it. 
Look at Mr. Ingram’s seedlings by the pollen of nitida, 
I and a blind piper could tell the difference; some may 
think all this of little moment if they get a good 
seedling, but the truth is, that false parentage stops 
improvements oil the threshold, tor who would think of 
crossing cinnaharina over again by nitida it this and 
such stories are believed ; and when we know to a 
certainty that nitida is the best pollen parent in the 
whole family, is it to be endured that that cross should 
stand in abeyance because some one lost a memorandum, 
and believed that we had the cross before him ? 
Plectranthus concolor picta, alias Coleus Bloomii. — 
I described this new plant, from Mr. Low’s collection, 
last October. It is certainly a strange thing for a 
blotched-leaved plant, but not more so than the way 
every succeeding writer tries to make out a difficult 
plant before it comes into flower. My own opinion is, 
that it is neither a Plectranthus nor a Coleus ; but I think 
it would make as good a border plant for the summer as 
a Salvia, or, say, a wilderness plant. 
There was a Hoy a Sieboldii, but it is not so different 
; from the old one as to justify a new name; and we must, 
in charity, suppose that these attempts at new names 
for old things, or for trifling variations of them, are 
made in ignorance of the existence of the old things 
themselves; at any rate, the regular trade should set 
their faces against such doings. 
There were a great many novelties in two collections 
of variegated plants, one of them from Mr. Rollisons, of 
Tooting, and the other from the Messrs. Lee, of 
Hammersmith ; but as I named most of them last year, 
I shall not enter much on the variegated plants to-day. 
Hcemadyction venosum is a beautiful leaved stove 
climber, like an Echites in growth. The different 
Elceodendrons , again, are elegant looking shrubs. A 
dwarf one, called venosum, I would recommend to every 
amateur who has a stove; it takes up very little room, 
and is always in beauty with its marked leaves. Mica- 
nia scandens, a climber, i3 next to the Cissus discolor, 
which is the king or queen of all the variegated plants. 
There were two full-grown Pine-Apple plants as va¬ 
riegated as could be; and a Fuchsia glohosa as variegated 
as that. This Fuchsia was shown before, five or six 
years since. Funkia undulata, in the variegated form, 
would make a nice rock-plant. Oleanders, Hydrangeas, 
Pittosporum undulatum, and many more old things, 
were in a variegated dress, and looked gay enough. 
The next newest things were Seedlings, and among 
the Pelargoniums and Fancies there was nothing better 
; than we had already, nor so good, or that promised a 
i new strain, except two pure, double, White Geraniums; 
of the greenhouse kind, one, a dwarf-growing plant, with 
! ragged flowers, that would be a treasure, had it not 
been far surpassed by another double, White, on the 
same stand. This last is as white, all over, as the fresh 
driven snow ; the petals are as flat and even as those of 
an Oleander. Indeed, if the flowers were shown without 
the plant, one would be apt to mistake them for a semi¬ 
double Neriana. It was exhibited by Mr. Jackson, of 
! Kingston, who had another seedling, from an old seed¬ 
ling of mine, the first that appeared in the Cloxinias, 
more than twenty years ago, and named by Mr. Low, of 
Clapton, Violacea. This new one is Violacca superha, 
and is a very beautiful thing, and is the best of that 
purple-violet colour in the genus. He also exhibited a 
running Tropccolum, with a foreign name, Scliewriana, 
a very pretty summer addition to this tribe, with straw- 
coloured flowers, blotched with purple inside. It will 
be as hardy as the Canary plant, with a much better 
foliage, and flowers six times the size. There were ten 
or a dozen Fuchsia seedlings not better than the best of 
the old ones. The two best whites were called Miss 
Hamburg and Clio. The two best red and purple were 
Macbeth and Elegans. Pearl of England is reckoned 
the best white Fuchsia of the old one, and there was 
one called Duchess of Lancaster, in the seedling tent, of 
great promise. The Ixora javanica has turned out the 
finest, and best-to-grow-plaut in the family; there was 
one specimen of it from Mrs. Lawrence—the finest plant 
that was ever exhibited. The Dipladenia atropurpurea 
is coming out again quite fashionable, and the old 
Sensitive plant was there, and as large as the largest 
currant-bush in the kingdom. The more ordinary things 
will have to stand over to another week. D. Beaton. 
MANURE WATERINGS. 
“ What can be the matter with these Pelargoniums?” 
said an inquirer, not long ago, respecting a lot of fine 
plants that were fast shedding their leaves, and looking 
as miserable as possible. “ Nothing,” continued he, 
“ has been done to them beyond the usual treatment, 
except acting up to the recommendation of the writers of 
The Cottage Gardener, and giving them a weak 
watering with Guano Water.” Weak, eh! and a smell of 
