THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 15, 1859. 
99 
The next band of Skimmia Japonica, to occupy eighteen inches. 
This will be in crimson berry all the winter; and for the middle 
take four or half a dozen of the best Golden-variegated Holly, 
from a foot to eighteen inches high, and you will have the finest 
and the most novel bed in that part of the country. Any good, 
light garden soil will suit them all. All the pruning the bed will 
need in a year for the first twenty years can be done in fifteen 
minutes, and the leaves, the habit, and the sizes or styles of 
growth come in contrast better than those of any other of the 
same number of plants now in cultivation.] 
THE CANARY AND THE BRITISH FINCHES. 
(Continued from page 90.) 
1st.—THE CROSSBILL ( Loxia curvirostra). 
French , Lo Bee croise. German, Dcr Kreuzschnabel. 
The Crossbill is only an occasional visitant to this country 
sometimes appearing in great numbers,—as, for instance, has 
been recorded in the years 1593, 1791, and 1821. Two couples 
were also shot in this immediate neighbourhood (Dallington, 
Sussex), in the autumn of 1850; consequently they are some¬ 
what rare occupants of the aviary ; but this year (1859), a great 
many have been Imported into London from Germany, a pair of 
which are now in my possession. They are docile birds ; about 
the size, or rather stouter, than a Skylark ; the beak is thick and 
large in proportion to the bird : the ends are elongated and 
curved, crossing each other, from which cause they derive their 
name. Their heads are thick ; their tails and legs rather short; 
and they climb about their cage, assisting their movements with 
their beaks somewhat like a Parrot. In colour 1 should describe 
them as of a dingy brown, lighter and inclining to grey under¬ 
neath, the rump feathers yellow, and the feathers about the 
throat and breast tipped with a glossy, but rather dingy, orange. 
They feed on canary and hemp seed ; and, notwithstanding their 
awkward-looking beaks, pick up the seeds very dexterously. 
Dr. Bechstein, in his “ Natural History of the Birds of 
Germany,” says :—“ There is great diversity in colour: the young 
and the females are of a prevailing greyish-brown with some 
little yellowish colour. That, the males at the first moult become 
red about the head, neck, and breast, like our Linnets; but 
at their second moult this red plumage i3 changed for orange.” 
He further states they inhabit the fir and pine forests, on the seed 
of which trees they feed. They breed between December and 
April, and build their nests in the tops of the fir trees, forming 
them of twigs, clay, and moss, with a lining of fine moss. The 
hen lays from three to five greyish-white eggs, the size of a hazel 
nut, and marked on the blunt end with a wreath of reddish- 
brown spots. They sit for fourteen days. The song is com¬ 
posed of several grating and cricking cadences, and has little 
melody; but such are highly prized by the fancier that utter in a 
ringing tone the sound “ Reiz,” or “ Kreuz,” which is designated 
the Crossbill’s crowing.— B. P. Brent. 
(2’o he continued.) 
SPERGULA PILIFERA. 
Can none of the readers of The Cottage Gardener give us 
any information respecting this plant ? In the spring we were 
told it possessed all the good qualities of perfect turf without the 
labour of mowing. Although I am generally sceptical of anything 
assuming to be so very much superior to what was in use before 
it, I am at all times willing to admit merit where due; and this 
plant’s introduction seemed to be so wide a departure from our 
hitherto-established idea, its failing in some cases to justify the 
high character it set out with might be reasonably looked for. 
But it is only fair to ask, Where has it succeeded ? and under 
what circumstances was it grown ? and the other particulars of 
its management. The latter, I trust, is simple and easy ; other¬ 
wise adieu to the utility of Spergula pilifera —for the old proverb 
that “ Gold may be bought too dear ” seems applicable to this 
plant, if it ha3 to be nursed during the summer months, as 
weeding, watering, and shading are more expensive operations 
than mowing. If this plant be not able to take care of itself 
after being once planted, I fear it can never compete with our 
long-established grass lawn. Not having had much experience 
with it myself beyond that of a few plants grown under favour¬ 
able circumstances, I should like to know from others how it 
stands the dry hot weather of the dog days, how it answers on 
slopes facing the south, and if it looks green and fresh on those 
places and on a dry, gravelly, or stony soil. The rich border of 
a kitchen garden is not a sufficient trial for it. I should, there¬ 
fore, wish to have the evidence of those who have grown it under 
the ordinary circumstances that lawn grass is grown, and how far 
we may expect it to bear the wear and tear of everyday traffic, not 
forgetting the wheelbarrow and other rude usage.—J. Robson. 
[We are very glad that our coadjutor Mr. Robson has sent us 
the above fishing communication, because it enables us to add 
that we shall be very much obliged by any of our readers com¬ 
municating to us the results of their experience with the Spergula 
pilifera. Whether favourable or unfavourable we shall be grate¬ 
ful for the communication, especially if the locality and kind of 
soil are also particularised. From our own observations we think 
it is one of the most important gardening improvements of the 
age; and upon putting the question to Mr. Beaton he replies,— 
“ I have nothing to add to or cancel from what I have said about 
this substitute for grass. Like all other great discoveries it will 
have to encounter prejudice, doubts, and fears.” Our pages are 
open to any communication upon this subject, so important to 
every gardener.— Eds.] 
PAMPAS GRASS. 
I purchased a plant of Pampas Grass three years since. It 
received no particular attention until this spring, when my man 
gave it a little dressing to see if it would bloom, which it had 
not hitherto done. It is now a large plant, eighteen inches in 
diameter, seven feet high, and has had twelve heads of bloom. 
Ours is one of the highest of the Surrey Hills, and I am fear¬ 
fully exposed. The south-west wind is dead against us, but we 
are sheltered a little from the north-east. My soil is nearly all 
chalk, and very dry.—J. Long, White Hill. 
Capt. Ward, of Caine, informs us that he saw in Cardigan¬ 
shire a noble specimen. It is planted on a sheltered lawn with a 
south aspect. 
Soil. —Peat from the Welsh Hills, mixed with one-third of 
common sand. 
Age. —Two years and a half, having been planted in May, 
1857 (a very small plant, only two leaves), in a hole four feet 
deep, and correspondingly broad, filled with the above soil. 
Watering.- —Once a-week during summer. About eight or 
nine large waterpots full at a watering. 
There were, on October 15th, seventy-five flower-spikes, the 
tallest being fourteen feet from the ground. 
The plant has received no other treatment, and is equal to, if 
not finer, than the parent plant. 
THE MERITS AND DEMERITS OF VARIOUS 
BEDDING PLANTS. 
Autumn is once more upon us ; and in taking a survey of the 
various occupants of the parterre during the past summer, it is 
well to note down the shortcomings as w r ell as the merits of 
different plants. No one can deny that we live in an age of 
progress ; to say nothing of huge steam ships passing down our 
rivers capable of conveying to the shores of distant lands the 
inhabitants of a whole town, and also information of any event 
being communicated from one side of the land to the other with 
the rapidity of the lightning’s flash, and a thousand other triumphs 
of the present century. 
At the same time gardening has been making rapid progress; 
during the last few years much has been done, and much more 
remains to be done. It is but a few years since there were but 
