212 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Januaey 5, 1858. 
Tom Thumb. Dr. Andre, and James Odicr, lie con¬ 
siders the two best of the French spotted kinds for 
borders, and for crossing from. 
Mr. Cutbush is up in the fashion with his exhibition 
Pelargoniums. For the May competition, he pots his 
specimens in October, in eight-inch upright pots ; and 
these are now in training, with a large hoop, three to 
four feet in diameter, under each of them. The hoop 
is hardl} r higher than the rim of the pot; and is held by 
sticks, like the spokes of a wheel, the other ends being 
stuck in the mould. The plants stand up above the rest 
on inverted pots, and are kept as cool and as airy as 
can be. They look remarkably well; and all one could 
do, was to wish them good luck. 
Air. Cutbusli took handsome prizes with Japan 
Lilies : and this is how he grows them. At the end of 
NTovember, they are put into separate pots, and are 
plunged under glass, without frames ; the lights being 
laid on inverted small pots all round, so that the pots 
are within two inches of the glass and the air on all 
round-day and night. In Febuary, live, or seven, or 
more, of the very largest bulbs are put into one pot— 
the one in which they flower; and all the attention 
given is to see that they are kept as cool as possible 
till the frost is gone, when they have almost an open- 
air culture ; the glass being down only during heavy 
rains. The soil is one-half strong yellow loam; the 
rest of peat, sand, and leaf mould. He has thousands 
of them, in all stages. 
Dielytras, again, he seems to have no end of, and 
they sell better than any plant in the market: but of 
all the plants, he says, ladies are most fond of the 
colour of Leptodachylon Californicum, which comes 
from cuttings “ like a weed,” but is hard to keep over 
the winter. He finds that keeping the cuttings in the 
cutting-pots with a little sand over the surface, is the 
best way to get them over the winter ; and he told me 
that he could warrant a bed of it, out of doors, would 
last from two to three months, “if done properly.” 
Then, says I, “ You are the man : ” and if people will 
let him off without telling us the whole of the secrets 
about this lovely flower, I shall not be to blame for 
neglecting to book them on the spot. 
Chinese Primroses he grows by the hundred ; and 
they are now beginning to understand them round 
London. Ferns, of stove, greenhouse, and hardy 
kinds, like all nurserymen, he grows very extensively. 
Gloxinias and Begonias the same. Wardian Cases, full 
of the tiniest and purest gems of the fairy forms, and 
Ly copods, he could make up or down, any way you 
please ; and a sample-case stands brimful in the prin¬ 
cipal show-house, to prove what he asserts. 
There is a silver plant in this show-house, which I 
never saw before, but it must be as old as Highgate 
Church; it is called Gnaphaliumprotocoldes. The leaves 
glisten like floss silk, and are silvery as the sparkling 
of a cairngoram in the loch below. Daphne liybrida 
rubra, the sweetest of the family, is all over the 
stages in all sizes, from 60’s to the largest specimens 
about London. Sikkim and Bliootan Rhododendrons, 
Azaleas, Camellias, Heaths, Hedaromas, and such-like 
plants, make up the bulk in the show-house, with a 
few double Roman Narcissus, just come in from the 
forcing-house. Many of the nurserjnnen still keep to 
Genetyllis, as their name for Hedaroma. The two are 
as two sections of Pelargoniums. Phygelia cap&nsis 
lie spoke well of: and I had no means yet of proving 
its worth; but I described it, two summers back, from 
a show at Chiswick. Verbenas, Pentstemons, Phloxes, 
Cinerarias, Campanulas, Dahlias, Fuchsias, Holly¬ 
hocks, Anagallis, Alyssums, Salvias, Lobelias, and all 
such flower garden plants, he finds very remunerating 
so near London. But for his great strength in the 
growth and forcing of Hyacinths, how he takes the 
prizes, his new kinds, and all about them, and the 
rest of his doings, I must put off till some other day. 
D. Beaton. 
A FEW NOTES ON PINUSES. 
Although many years, probably centuries, must elapse 
before the general features of our woodland scenery undergo 
much change, by the introduction of species not indigenous 
amongst us ; still, there is a probability of much of the ornamen¬ 
tal plantations, which clothe the domain of the affluent, being 
much affected by the varieties now commonly planted there. 
Beech, Elm, Oak, Lime, and Chestnut avenues, have given 
place to rows of Cedars and Araucarias, much to the regret of 
those, whose patriotism prompts them to think that “English 
scenery,” ought to be garnished with “ English treesand 
who loudly exclaim against foreign intrusions, whether in 
the shape of giving us advice'on affairs of India, or of planting 
too freely the Pinuses we have from the northern boundary 
of that interesting country. Be that as it may, it is certain 
that the sombre appearance which a fine forest presents will 
tell in a few years on the outline of the home-grounds of 
many a mansion in the south and central counties of England. 
Venerable Oaks, Elms, and other trees, are remorselessly re¬ 
moved for the new comers ; who, with long names, and 
character for size and longevity, almost bordering on the 
fabulous, have from time to time been introduced to notice. 
Many years ago, the Abies Douglasii was regarded the 
monarch of the Pine forest, until its claim was disputed by a 
much older acquaintance, the Weymouth Pine. Subse¬ 
quently we had many aspirants to the regal dignity. Finns 
Lambertiana , a Taxus, and several Mexican species of a too- 
tender constitution for this country, have successively con¬ 
tested for the honour of being the first lord of the vegetable 
creation ; and each backed by a numerous body of friends and 
admirers. This rivalry seems for the present to be set at rest, 
by the new Californian species of Wellingtonia claiming the 
much-prized honour; but - how long this much-admired 
species may retain its dignified position, it is impossible to 
say. Enterprising travellers are abroad ; and it is possible they 
may come in contact with some species of greater magnitude 
than even this wonderful tree. At all events, large tracts of 
forest lands remain yet unexplored, in countries expected to 
furnish hardy species. The sources of those mighty rivers 
which water the rich plains of Brazil, and other South 
American countries, have their source in regions of greater 
cold than the British Islands; and have been yet but very 
imperfectly explored : and the same observation applies to 
Central Africa. So that we may, at some future day, have 
magnificent importations from those countries. 
The Patagonian species, recently introduced, are a proof that 
Pinuses exist in that continent: and that other places will 
also furnish contingents, there is little doubt ; and amongst 
them, perhaps, a chieftain of even higher pretensions than the 
ofty Wellingtonia. But we must not forget, that kings of 
the forest are only like other mortal dignitaries of similar 
rank—each reigning in his own country alone. Many years, 
indeed, must elapse, ere the Wellingtonia gigantea rears its 
head over our worthy friend, the Silver Fir. Still more 
unlikely is its doing so in Norway, and the countries of the 
Baltic, from whence the bulk of om* Pine timber is drawn. 
Now, though these wonderful products of the vegetable 
creation, towering to some 350 feet high and upwards, amaze 
us by their magnitude, there is a much greater probability 
of a young plant of the same species dying in its infancy, than 
of arriving at one-fourth that height in this country ; where 
it is placed under circumstances so widely different. Never¬ 
theless, there is a merit in trying to introduce such novelties, 
apart from their intrinsic value ; and good collections of them 
are a proper direction of taste. But extensive plantations of 
them are quite another thing. To clothe our English landscape 
with other than English trees, will, in a general way, end un¬ 
satisfactorily. A Deodar, thirty feet high, and as many through 
at the bottom, is a noble object to look upon in the lawn 
when near at hand ; but in the distance, an aged Scotch Eir, 
with an expanded top, is a more commanding feature. The 
Araucaria imbricata is certainly tropical in its appearance ; 
and its slow growth and scarcity proclaim it to be an occupant 
