50 the cottage gardener and country 
and its offsets are few. Had the seeds been examined 
to determine its place among its fellows we should have 
had a better name for it. Acacia longiflora magnified has 
been said to be the best of the family. I have just seen 
it here for the first time, and it is hardly second best, 
but it is very good. Drummondii is as much suptiior 
to this cried-up French sport or seedling as such crying 
up for the sake of a penny is disgraceful to true-born 
Britons. A. grandis , dlfasa, and oleifolia elegans, ior the 
dead of winter, are as good as most kinds, while Riceana 
makes naturally the best climber by its long, hanging- 
down shoots, and affnis the best artificial climbei by 
close pruning and loose training; but all ol them lequiie 
close pruning after they are up enough for the place 
or pot. There is a fine collection of them here, and 
of the summer exhibition plants, of which there are 
many improved kinds from seeds, as Epacris miniata 
grandifiora and Eriostemon pulchellim, the best and 
most graceful of them all, for they were all in 
bloom. This comes nearest to buxifolium , which is not 
nearly such a good specimen plant. Hypocalymma 10- 
bustum (not Hypocalymna) is a fine small-leaved, 
Hakea-like plant, with light rosy flowers, nearly as 
thickly set as those of Acrophyllum venosum, a little- 
known plant for a greenhouse specimen; Hedaroma 
tulipifera, another beautiful thing. Dillwynia cinnabarina 
is one of the very best kinds of that genus; Bejaria 
(Estuans, a beautiful rosy flower, and one of the best of 
these alpine, hard-wooded, half-hardy plants (the name 
is pronounced Beharia); Amphicome Emodi, a splendid 
new kind, with Pentstemon-like, bright orange tube 
and a rose-coloured limb; Bouvardia longiflora, with 
| flowers as white as snow ; B. leiantlia, the best of them 
all for beds, and a real bedding plant; Ghironia flori- 
bunda, an elegant glistening pink flower of a favourite 
genus; Lapageria rosea and rosea alba, with Mr. Low’s 
seedlings, which may chance to be of all colours. 
Rosea has been planted out in one of the Pleath houses, 
and grows as luxuriantly in peat and with bog-plant 
culture as a Mandevilla, and blooms as freely at every 
joint. Lilium giganteum, kept in a cold house in winter, 
lias thrown up a flower-stem as thick as my wrist without 
any artificial heat, and seems as hardy as a Tiger Lily, 
but it will stand a smart heat. Fine plants of Linum 
tigrinum, as old as the hills, and as good a winter i 
bloomer as can be put into a pot; Streptocarpus poly- j 
anthus blooms six months in greenhouse heat, and is a 
most useful thing; Passiflora Billottii, between eccrulea 
and some quadrangular is kind, is one of the best new 
Passion-flowers for a conservatory. Cytisus filipes, the 
white blooming kind, is done here to admiration, and on 
the coolest treatment. The Rhododendron gasminiflorum 
i they cut for nosegays as freely and as sweet as 
Orange blossoms. The new white Bouvardia longiflora 
\ is much like it in the flowers. Gastrolobium spectabile ; 
is, perhaps, the very best of the Australian Pea-bloomers. 
Lots of the old Doryanthes excelsci to stand out with 
Aloes in summer, and to chance its blooming more 
stately than the American Aloe itself; Adenandra fra- 
\ grans, the best of the Diosma uniflora- like class; Babing- 
tonia camphorosmci, a most useful late summer plant 
i of the old school—a class which the shows have all but 
j deprived us of; but most glad am I to hear that the 
tide has at length turned in favour of all the good old 
plants. Bland/ordias are of this race, and nobilis is 
now as much sought after as the Pampas Grass for its 
spikes of orange and scarlet blossoms, which last for 
months. 
Laurus aromaticus is as deliciously sweet as Orange 
blossoms, and they have a new style of Orange-blossom 
nosegays, the prettiest things I ever saw for brides¬ 
maids and wedding parties. When the Orange buds 
aro well formed, and numerous on the points of the 
shoots, they cut the shoots four or five inches in length, 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 28, 1857. 
put them into very small pots as cuttings, and these are 
well rooted by the time the blooms are open, and you 
might think the whole was done by magic; for the 
blooms are as large, numerous, and sweet as if taken 
from the best tree in Italy that very day. There ought 
to be three such plants on each of the corners of the 
marriage altar every time the knot is tied, and each of 
the bridesmaids ought to wear a wreath of the flowers. 
Tetratlieca ericcefolia is the most lady-like flower in the 
greenhouse. 
This being the emporium for the Stylidium family, 
I learnt that mucronatifolium is one of the very 
best, and I often said that where there were children 
some of these should be grown to explain a curious 
turn in botany, if for no other purpose. The fol¬ 
lowing are the best twelve winter-flowering green¬ 
house plants:— Acacia longifolia, Correa picta superba, 
Cyclamen Persicum rub rum and Atkinsii, Daphne 
Indica rubra, EpiphyUum or Cactus Snowii, Eriostemon 
intermedium, Linum tigrinum, double red and white 
Primula Sinensis, Stylidium tubiflorum, and Witsenia 
corymbosa; and the next twelve are the most distinct 
greenhouse climbers: both are set down here purposely 
for future reference in “ Answers to Correspondents.” 
Bignonia grandifiora, Clematis indivisci lobata, Fagelia 
bituminosa, large, rich, yellow Pea blossoms and a neat 
habit; Gompholobium polymorphum splendens, an elegant 
slender-growing climber, with large orange red and rosy 
purple Pea blossoms in great profusion ; Jasminum gran- 
diflorum, Lapageria rosea, Mandevilla suaveolens, Passi- 
flora Billottii, Rhyncospermum jasminoides, Tacsonia ma- 
nicata and mollissima, Zicliya longipedunculata. The best 
hardy climbers for their foliage are Stauntonia latifolia 
and Lardizabala biternata, with Ivy-like leaves. The 
best two Ivies are Hedera Algeriana, better than the 
Irish, and Rcegneriana, with the largest and thickest 
leaves of all the Ivies. The last has been three years in 
the Experimental, and bears out this character. An¬ 
dromeda formosa beats fforibunda in the “ prodigious” 
clusters of snowy white flowers, as Babe Nicol Jarvey 
would say. All the Ceanothuses are proved here to be 
the best of wall plants. Arthrotaxis selaginoides, a low 
bush from Van Diemen’s Land, is the most interesting 
and peculiar of all the Conifers. Here are some of the 
best plants of it in England. All the best Dammaras, 
Dacrydiums, and finer Conifers are grown in pots here, 
and those which do better in the free soil are grown in 
a separate nursery lower down the country, whence they 
are drawn for the specimen or showing-off department 
of this the home nursery as fast as the sale of them 
renders it necessary. The Sikkim and Bhootan Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, the Tree Pseonies,the China, Japan, and Indian 
Berberis, are very rich here, and in constant demand. 
The “run” for all really good plants is yearly on the 
increase. Every plant which The Cottage Gardener 
recommends on its own authority is “ swallowed up ” 
faster than they can propagate. D. Beaton. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE VERBENA. 
These much-valued and esteemed plants, whether 
grown in pots or planted in the flower garden in masses, 
require now particular attention in propagating, pot¬ 
ting, and very shortly planting out. As 1 am about 
I to give my annual selection of the best new and older 
; varieties, I trust a few remarks on their culture will not 
! be unacceptable. It may be rather late by the time 
this is in the hands of our readers in regard to propaga¬ 
tion ; but my remarks will certainly be in time for 
i ne w varieties, as they will not generally be sent out 
