338 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 4. 
Shrubiand Rose Petunia makes a very good edge for 
vase plants, if allowed to ramble as they have it here, 
without much training. There is a beautiful bed of the 
Mulberry, or Port Wine-coloured Verbena called Helen, a 
very old one, but we must have it up again, if only on 
my own authority; it is a great favourite here, and also at 
Chiswick House, but there they missed it this season 
through its being a bad one to winter, although a very 
strong grower. After having it in mixtures at Shrub- 
land Park, and seeing it last year in perfection by itself 
at Chiswick House, and this year at Bank Grove, 
equally good, I made up my mind that we can no 
more discard it than the Emma Verbena. 
There is a large massive fountain finished in the end of 
the American ground this season, and, notwithstanding 
this wet summer, I saw they were watering this garden 
whenever two or three dry days intervened, and all the 
plants look and grow remarkably well and fast Liboce- 
drus Chilensis was twenty-nine inches high that day, and 
only nineteen inches when I called in April. Some of 
| the best of the new Sikkim Rhododendrons are put out 
in this garden, and I saw the usually little dwarf 
Ciliatum grown and trained up to standard height on its 
\ own roots! D. Beaton. 
| 
CHISWICK HOUSE. 
His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, President of the 
Horticultural Society of London, allows his beautiful 
gardens at Chiswick House to be seen by visitors to 
the Society’s July shows, year after year; and a 
beautiful grass walk through the orchard of the 
Society leads straight to the Duke’s garden on the 
north side of it. On entering by the north gate, the 
green walk is continued southward for about 170 yards, 
to the centre of a long glass range of plant houses, and 
through the centre house of this range the company 
pass on to one of the very finest flower-gardens near 
London. On the last show day, July 9, the Coldstream’s 
band struck up “ Bundle and Go,” a little before two 
o’clock, in the Society’s garden ; and away we went, by 
the green walks, as merrily as the “ Camp ” folks, down 
to Chiswick House—a regular procession, in fact, all 
the way; and no one durst break rank any more than 
if Lord Seaton himself were riding by our side. Here 
nothing about the fashions could be seen, however, 
unless one happened to fall into the procession behind 
four ladies, as some did, to my own knowledge. 
On entering the north gate, the first note of preparation 
was on a grand scale; from the gate to the hothouses is 
about 170 yards, as I have just said, and there is a wide 
border on each side of the walk the whole of the way, 
and as straight as an arrow. Each of these long 
borders are planted with two rows of Calceolaria angus- 
tifolia, a clear yellow, and two rows of the Cornpactum 
Horse-shoe Geranium—the two kinds in alternate rows 
on both sides. I cannot say whether it was from the 
great length of these borders, the simplicity of the 
arrangement, the music, the soldiers, or the new bon¬ 
nets; but sure I am that I never saw a more telling 
scene in all my travels. No doubt a good deal of the 
impression was owing to the great concourse of people 
passing at the time; the endless variations and tints in 
the ladies’ dresses in the full sun; and the freshness of 
the plants and borders from the continuous rains the 
whole preceding night; but still, with all these aids, I 
do not believe there are two other bedding plants that 
would give anything near the rich glow which was here 
produced, The thing is a regular hit, and will last as 
long as terrace walks ; but nothing less than a hundred 
yards long will do justice to it, and no other Geranium 
but Cornpactum will answer. This I learned from Mr. 
Edmond, his Grace’s gardener, whom I was fortunate 
enough to meet with in the crowd. The reason is, that 
Cornpactum keeps the trusses as regular and upright as 
soldiers on parade; you might look on from one end 
and not discover a single blossom or truss out of the 
true line. Compared with Cornpactum, in regularity of 
flowering, Tom Thumb and the rest of them are mere 
ramblers; and, as pot plants, Cornpactum and Amazon 
are by far the best, as they carry the best trusses of the 
whole family. The finest Compactums I ever saw or 
heard of were from scores of pot plants distributed 
along the front shelves in this same glass range. There 
was not a single plant shown in the Chiswick garden 
this season that indicated a better style of gardening 
than these very Compactums. 
Unique Cerise is another very good pot plant for 
summer decoration in-doors; in a bed, out-of-doors, it 
it is not nearly so effective. My seedling, Lady 
Middleton, is the nearest tint to Unique Cerise; the two 
are on a par for in-doors, but Lady Middleton makes 
one of the gayest beds in the garden, and stands all 
weathers. Some ladies are passionately fond of good tints 
in this class of Geraniums, and most ladies like to see 
them. I had a seedling six or seven years back—the 
tint is between pink, salmon, and cherry colour— 
and I recollect two ladies falling in love with it 
at first sight, and both declared it was the richest tint 
for a ball dress, for a young lady, of all they had ever 
seen in flowers; but, unfortunately, the shape of the 
flower is so much out of the fashion, that it would not 
do for a trade plant; however, after seeing the nice tints 
brought out in Eliza Field, Princess, and Kingsbury 
Pet, at the last show, I began to cross it with Lady 
Middleton, Cherry Cheek, and Unique Cerise, for 
newer tints, and better habit, if possible. 
As Mr. Edmond has had great experience in 
this beautiful garden, and is at the fountain head 
of all that is new and good for the flower-bed, I 
noted down the principal varieties he used this season, 
as a guide for those far away, who have not such 
opportunities to select from. His scarlet Geraniums 
are principally Cornpactum, Punch, and Tom Thumb, 
and he uses them in about equal proportion; he likes 
Punch best for autumn, but finds it not so early as the 
other two, without a little extra encouragement in the 
spring before planting-out time. He uses four Petunias 
—the Shrubiand Rose, Shrubiand White, an excellent 
purple, called Superb —this seems the best purple I 
have yet seen for beds; and a very gay,, streaked one— 
purple streaks on a light pink ground—called Eclipse: 
I think these are the best four in cultivation. Superb 
has a large dark eye, and an excellent habit for a 
header. Mont Blanc is his chief white Verbena, and 
his scarlets are Gem of the West and St. Margaret; two 
that are much alike in habit and truss, but the former 
has a light eye, the other a purplish eye. Barkerii is 
his dark crimson, and it is a better grower than Inglefeld 
Seedling, the next nearest to it in colour. Emma is still 
the best dark purple. Leonica is his best purple ; and 
Imperatrice Josephine he still uses for the best apology 
for a blue Verbena; and Hamlet is his next best blueish 
tint; and Gompte de Paris is an improvement on 
Heloise, or blueish-purple. For low, long beds he has 
Tweediana. The second week in July being the grand 
day of the season with him for the reception of the 
visitors to the Society’s Garden, experience has taught 
him that these varieties establish themselves sooner, 
and come earlier into bloom with him than others 
that are equally good later in the season. 
Integrifolia and Rugosa are the two best earliest Cal¬ 
ceolarias, and he uses them abundantly. Kaxyii does 
not answer on this soil, nor on many other soils; and 
Amplexicaulis is too late altogether for this garden. 
Of variegated Geraniums, he has beds of Flower of 
the Day, Queen of Summer, and Mangles Variegated; 
