TTTE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 12, 1859. 
27 
the others clid not possess. Altogether, it was generally r “gar Jed 
as the most imposing feature of the place. 
Are there not many places where the same may be done in like 
manner? Herbaceous plants, as a whole, require less care than 
any other section ; while their appearance and long-continued 
services entitle them to the best place. Besides which, the ac¬ 
quisitions of the last few years have added much to the store of 
older plants in this class. Phloxes have been improved and mul¬ 
tiplied ; as, likewise, have Delphiniums, Pentstemons, and other 
things; while many new ones have been added. Old ones, of 
course, cannot be discarded without due consideration ; and some 
of the old kinds are amongst the most beautiful still, as—double- 
purple and white Rockets, Catchflys, Aconitum Virginicum , 
Statice laifolia, and the Golden Alyssum (Alyssum, saxatile). 
I know nothing more showy or useful than the latter where it 
does well, and there are others equally so. 
It is proper here to observe, that a class of plants presenting 
so much variety cannot all be expected to thrive alike on the 
same soil—Phloxes requiring a much moister soil than many 
others ; while the pretty Spircea Japonica seems to do best in a 
peaty soil, with a fair share of moisture. On the other hand, 
some require a dry soil, as the Alyssum saxatile; but the ma¬ 
jority like a deep, rich, garden loam, where the roots have free 
scope to roam, and escape the droughts of summer, and thereby 
prolong their blooming; while some little allowance could be 
made for those of an opposite character. But, as the majority are 
tolerably free feeders, their welfare might be regarded as para¬ 
mount ; and others, if they did not thrive so well, might be 
excused, when there are so many ready and willing servants to do 
duty for so long a period as ten or eleven months in the year. 
I trust some one will undertake to resuscitate this neglected 
class, and again place it on the footing it stood half a century 
ago. I do not think, with the recruits it has received during that 
time, that its appearance in the gay lists of floral gala days will 
be much behind its more fashionable competitors ; while, for at 
least five months in the year, it will be decidedly superior. Lists 
of the most showy kinds could easily be given; but, at the present 
time, it i3 unnecessary, as everyone has his own especial 
favourite ; besides which, certain soils favour the growth of some 
plants more than others. Enough has been said to urge on all 
those having the means to endeavour to restore this meritorious 
class of plants to their proper position in the floral world.— 
J. Robson. 
NEW AND EASE PLANTS. 
Begonia xanthine, var. lazuli ( Lapis-lazuli variety of Yellow- 
flowered Begonia). 
Mr. Linden, of Brussels, has introduced this variety, and 
many others also of great beauty, from Assam. The flowers are 
yellow, partly tinged with red, and the large foliage, its chief 
beauty, is beautifully coloured with blended crimson and green, 
with a blue metallic lustre. “ It deserves a place in every orna¬ 
mental stove.”—( Botanical Magazine, t. 5107.) 
VlUESIA P3ITTACINA, var. RUBKO-BItACTEATA (Bed-hr acted 
variety of Barrot-flowered Vriesia), 
“ Native of Brazil, and a very great ornament to our stoves, 
by bearing its handsome scarlet and yellow spikes of flowers in 
the winter.”— (Ibid., t. 5108.) 
Nepenthes am bull aria (Arnpullaceous Nepenthes, or Pitcher- 
plant). 
Native of the Singapore Forests, and other places in the 
vicinity. Flowers in August. Pitchers small and unattractive. 
—(Ibid., t. 5109.) 
Howardia CaracaseNsis (Caracas Howardia). 
It is a native of Caracas, in Venezuela. “ A very lovely stove 
plant, with gracefully-drooping panicles of flowers, the beauty of 
which is very much increased by the remarkable enlargement of 
one of the teeth of the calyx into a heart-shaped, stalked, deep, 
rose-coloured, leaf-like lobe, like a similar development (except as 
to colour) in the well-known Mussanda of our stoves.”— Ibid., 
t. 5110.) • 
Stephanophysum Baikiei (Dr. Bailies' Slsphanophysum). 
One of the plants collected by Mr. Barter during the present 
Niger expedition. Named after Dr. Baikie, commander of the 
expedition. A stove sub-shrubby plant, with terminal panicles of 
scarlet flowers, blooming in winter.— (Ibid., t. 5111.) 
I.TNUM ptjbescens, var. Sibthorpianum (SibtJioop's variety of 
Hairy Flax). 
It has also been called Linum pilferum, I.. Sibthorpianum, 
Ij. decoloratum, and L. hirsutum. A pretty, hardy annual, native 
of Mersina, Cilicia, but the flowers very inferior in colour to 
those of L. grandflorum.; — (Ibid., t. 5112.) 
A NEW PINE APPLE. 
I hah occasion to call at Mossley Hill, Aighburgh, uear Liver¬ 
pool, to see the gardens of A. Fairrie, Esq., famous for a fine 
collection of orchidaceo?. The gardener asked me to go and look 
at a new seedling Pine they had raised. We had to go through 
a part of the pleasure-ground ; and I, therefore, thought this new 
Pine was one of the Conifer tribe. “ Where did it come from ?” 
I asked. “ It is a seedling,” was the answer. “ Is it from the 
Himalaya Mountain, or from Mexico ?” was my next query. 
That led to the reply, “ It is not a Conifer, but a Pine Apple." 
On arriving at the pinery it was shown to me in fruit. One was 
nearly at its full size, and had the appearance of a well-swelled 
Enville. The flavour, I was told, was excellent. The grand 
peculiarity, however, is the very small room each plant occupies. 
The one so nearly ripe grew on a plant whose leaves covered a 
space only fifteen inches in diameter. All the plants in fruit were 
on equally small plants ; so that, in a given space, at least double 
the number of fruit may be produced. The crowns on the fruit 
arc all small; so that the purchaser of the fruit will not have to 
pay for a large heavy crown which he cannot eat. Altogether, I 
think this is a decided and desirable acquisition to our sorts of 
this noble fruit. I understand Mr. Fairrie has put the stock, 
which is large, into somebody’s hands to send it out to the public ; 
so, I suppose, it will soon have a name and be advertised.— 
T. Appleby. 
How to Propagate Linum grandiplorum eubrum. —The 
beginning of March put the seed iuto a tumbler half full of 
water; put. the tumbler on the flue for forty-eight hours; tem¬ 
perature in the glass from 20° to 30° Reaumer. Then clean the 
seed with fine white sand, so that the slimy parts disappear, with¬ 
out hurting, however, the now-sol'tened grain. Apply fresh, dry 
sand till the seed is clean. Sow in a pot one part loam, one 
manure, one pure-white river sand, and cover two lines deep. 
Put the pot again on the flue, and water with tempered water 
whenever necessary. When one inch up, pot into one-incli-and- 
a-lialf pots ; when five inches, in three-inch pots. A fortnight 
after, let them go to the cold house; give them fresh air; take 
them out the middle of May, and they will stand well in the open 
air.— (American Gardener's Monthly.) 
TRADE LISTS RECEIVED. 
A Catalogue of Bedding and other Choice Flower-Garden 
Plants; and A Descriptive Catalogue of Fruits Cultivated and 
Sold by John Scott, Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne and Preston 
lload Nursery, Yeovil, Somerset. Both of these are good cata¬ 
logues of the articles they profess to enumerate. The latter 
contains a very excellent list, with descriptive remarks of fruit 
trees, and we particularly' observe a good collection of the best 
eider Apples.— Catalogue No. 5, for 1859, of Bass and Brown, 
Nurserymen and Seedsmen, Sudbury : being Superb Achimenes 
and Gloxinias, and Bedding Plants. This is a full list, contain¬ 
ing a numerous variety of all these plants, with descriptions of 
their various characters.— Catalogue of Florists' Flowers, Green¬ 
house Plants, Con feree, Bedding Plants, fyc., by W. W. John¬ 
stone, Broughty Ferry and Dundee, is a respectable list of these 
articles, judiciously selected and well arranged. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
O UN AM EXT AT. GRASSES TOR BoUQVKTS [F. W. S .).— FOl - CUt flOWd'S ill 
vases, Brizu maxima, and Stipa pennata, are the best. For small hand 
| bouquets, Lamarkia aurea is very useful. 
Apiarian Society (Apiaria?!). — This has no connection with the British 
Apiarian Society suggested in our columns. 
