I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 22, 1857. 
183 
! and not to me. I believe the late Mr. Carter, of Holborn, in¬ 
troduced, or rather re-introduced, the Sabbatia , in 1853 ; for 
it had been previously cultivated here, if I be not mistaken. 
My part was limited to sending the plants to the Ivew 
Gardens. 
I have an impression that Mr. Beaton, some time since, ex¬ 
pressed strong doubts, that the Lobelia speciosa would not 
j reproduce itself by seed. It may, therefore, interest your 
i readers to learn, that not only does the variety in question ripen 
I seed as freely as the older ones (in favourable conditions), but 
1 also comes true from the seed. Having raised several thousand 
j seedlings, I am in a position to speak positively as to the first 
i generations. I presume, therefore, there can be little doubt 
j that the future ones will possess the characteristics of the 
| original.— W. Thompson, Ipswich . 
NUTTALLIA CERASIFORMIS. 
Received from Mr. Ilartweg, in January, 1848, from 
California, said to be a deciduous shrub, two feet high, from 
the woods near Monterey. 
A shrub, witli a very thin, half-transparent, smooth, de- 
| ciduous foliage. The leaves are obovate-lanceolate, or oblong, 
perfectly smooth, pale-green, rather glaucous beneath. From 
the base of the young shoots, opposite one of the earliest 
leaves, springs a nodding raceme of greenish-white flowers, 
furnished with broad, reflexed, thin, very pale-green bracts. 
There are five petals, which soon fall off, and fifteen stamens 
i inserted on the calyx in a double row. The aspect of the 
plant is something that of a bird-cherry; but its fruit is said 
to consist of from one to five leathery drupes, which finally 
dry up and split. 
A hardy, dwarf, neat-looking shrub; increased by suckers 
or seeds, and growing freely in any good garden-soil. It 
flowers before the leaves are produced, in February and March. 
—(Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
JUXTAPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
Perhaps the following hints respecting the juxtaposition 
of colours, and the complementarics, may be useful to your 
correspondent “W. J. W.,” whose query appeared in a late 
number of The Cottage Gardener. 
White is the normal condition of light. Black is the 
absence of light. Neither white nor black are, strictly speak¬ 
ing, colours. Colour implies that some portion of the con¬ 
stituent parts of white have been abstracted from it. The 
colour of the sea is a good illustration of this fact. Owing to 
the peculiar construction of the spectrum (which is too long 
a subject to enter upon here), its first lour component parts 
viz., violet, indigo, blue, green, and a portion of the fifth, or 
yellow, cannot penetrate the sea water ; and are, consequently, 
reflected. If they could penetrate, the sea would appear 
white: as it is, they do not, and the colour of the sea is, con¬ 
sequently, made up of a mixture of these colours, viz. a 
greenish blue. The remaining portion of the spectrum—a 
portion of the yellow, the orange, and the red—does peue- 
trate, and colours the water below ; and the diver, descending 
into the depths of the sea, finds himself surrounded by a red 
water, slightly orange. Many other instances might be men¬ 
tioned confirming this fact — that colour is, so to speak, a 
damaged white, or white deprived of some of its constituent 
parts. 
The constituent parts of white are red, blue, and yellow m 
certain fixed proportions; and these are called the primary 
colours. And a mixture of any two of these, such as red and 
blue=purple, or blue and yellow—green, &c., forms what 
are called the secondary colours. Again, a third series of 
infinite variety is formed by a further admixture of the pri¬ 
maries with the secondaries ; and in this way every known 
variety of colour is produced. 
Now, the complementary colours are nothing more than 
those which any particular colour may want to make up its 
complement ; in other words, to make white light. Thus, the j 
complementarics of red are blue and yellow=green ; of yellow, 
red and blue=purple, &c. 
In the case of the secondaries, if they are pure, and in the 
right proportions, only one colour is complementary. For 
instance, green, if of a certain hue, wants only red mixed with 
it to make white; and purple, likewise, only yellow : but rose j 
colour, which is not pure red, nor pure purple, but red with a 
small admixture of blue, has, for its complementary, yellow 
mixed with just so much blue as the original rose wanted to 
make it pure purple; therefore, the complementary colour of 
rose is pale yellowish green. 
To illustrate this by examples. The complementary colour 
of Shrubland rose Petunia is pale green—the colour of its 
foliage ; of Cerise unique Geranium, darker green; of a pure 
red Verbena, a pure green, or equal quantities of yellow and 
blue; of Bunch Geranium, which is scarlet, («.<?., pure red, 
with a small admixture of yellow), a blue green, or a green 
with more bine than yellow in it—the exact colour of its 
foliage. 
The important fact on which hinges the coiTect juxtaposition 
of colours is this:—the eye, after viewing any object or 
colour, does not immediately lose the impression, but retains 
it for a short interval, even after it has been turned to another 
object or colour. And the consequence of this fact is, that 
the eye receives either a pleasant or an unpleasant impression 
on looking at diflerent colours in succession, according as 
those colours fulfil certain conditions or not. For instance : 1 
when the eye has rested for 6ome time on bright red, and is 
then turned to its complementary—green, it experiences a 
pleasurable sensation, finding relief in seeing a colour in which 
no red exists; and the hue of each colour is heightened from 
the contrast. 
Now, why should this be the case ? it maybe asked. Why 
should not the eye feel equal pleasure from seeing blue after 
the red ? and why should not the hue of each be heightened 
in the same manner as before P The only explanation which 
can be given of this mysterious fact is, that the eye is naturally 
disposed to seek white , which is the normal condition of light; 
in this it finds rest—that colours, strictly so called, excite the 
eye. They are, of course, pleasurable, like other excitement, 
for a time ; but they keep the eye in a state of excitement. 
It is not satisfied, and cannot repose, till either it is turned to 
