THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobee 5, 1858. 
8 
newish Phygelius capensis shows it to be of the best 
bedding habit, if trained down ; but it can never make 
but a neutral bed, on account of the bad, red-brick 
colour of the flowers. 
On the west side of the large conservatory, the 
boundary hedge of Yew to the terrace garden takes a 
half-moon like curve, and a walk along the lialf-moon, 
from that front, divides it into two quadrant-like 
figures. These two fans, or quadrants, are sunk 
panels, twenty inches, or two feet, lower than the rest 
of the ground, except a circle in the centre of each panel, 
which is as high as the original surface. On each of 
these circles an Araucaria imbricaia is planted, on 
grass ; and round the edge of the circular platform is 
a set of flower-beds, in four divisions, leaving a good 
space of grass between them and the stem of the 
Araucaria. Is this, then, a better arrangement for 
landscape-gardeners, than to have the whole platform 
of dug earth, with the beds as they are P All I can 
say is, that it is not calculated to give so rapid a 
growth to the trees, which might be an advantage for 
such trees as are apt to grow too fast, and too late in 
the season to ripen properly. The flowers look very 
gay round these trees : they are Scarlet Geraniums, 
Calceolarias, and some dwarf Dahlias, mixed. The 
sunk parts are for the best kinds of Rhododendrons, 
and other best Americans, which look remarkably well; 
but they have been hosing water on them through 
the summer as if they were so many houses on fire. 
At the two opposite points of the sunken fans are 
circles filled with Anemone Japonica, which come in 
for their share of this deluge. This is, perhaps, the 
only flower-garden plant which will do in a low, moist 
bed, by the margin of a bog, or high up upon rock- 
work. It is on a rockwork at Claremont, as gay as 
can be, and I have it on the driest spot in the county, 
and never water it on purpose, and it blooms most 
luxuriantly. Rut my kind is the cross which Mr. 
Gordon got at Chiswick. On each side of the walk, 
through this American ground, are flower-beds and 
shrubs, “ turn about,”—a shrub for the circle, and 
the oblongs in bedding plants,—beginning with a pair 
of very good dwarf China Roses, chiefly fabvier ; the 
next pair of Calceolaria amplexicaulis, mixed with Age- 
ratum, and edged with Countess of Ellesmere Petunia, 
which looks very well, 'like next match is of Lord 
Raglan Verbena, edged with variegated Mint, kept 
quite low,—very good. After that, Hamlet Verbena, 
and Heliotrope, edged with the dwarf FrencliMarigold; 
then a pair of Countess of Ellesmere Petunia, which is 
just at home at Kew. The next, Brilliant de Vaise, 
from the suburbs of Lyons, and Lord Raglan Ver¬ 
benas, both in the way of Eefiance ; but Brillante de 
Vaise has a very small bright eye, and Lord Raglan 
a large eye, and a shade round it. But I have a 
selection from 300 kinds of Verbenas, taken last 
August from an experimental row of them, which is 
400 yards long in a straight line in the full blaze of 
the sun. The next two are of Calceolaria amplexi¬ 
caulis, edged with Countess of Ellesmere again; and 
the last pair is of the blue Campanula Carpatica. 
Beyond this, on the same line of walk, is where the 
pillar Roses are planted, but not pillared yet. There 
are to be ten pillars on each side, and round-headed 
trees in between, which will look extremely well. 
Meantime, while the pillar Roses are in progress, the 
beds are planted pincushion style, and chiefly with 
Punch Geranium. At both ends of the large conserva¬ 
tory are the best Dahlias, and the bedding Dahlias, 
including Mr. Dods new white, which is rather too 
long in the flower-stalk. There are also large masses 
of them round Hollyhocks, resembling those at the 
Crystal Palace. 
Tkeye is a set of experimental beds near the hot¬ 
houses, to prove everything, new or old, before it is 
allowed to enter into competition with the grand show. 
I looked them over, but I never tell tales out of an 
experimental, till a thing is decided on. However, 
having invited Mr. Craig, the head of the flower- 
garden department, to see our Experimental, I gave 
him full power and authority to tell of everything he 
saw with us, how it was, and how it looked. 
The Victoria Lily has been removed to the old 
hothouse ranges, and the house for it, next the large 
conservatory, is full of other water-plants, and covered 
with climbers,—a collection of fancy kinds of the Gourd 
family and Dioscoreas. The snake Cucumbers are 
enough to chill one's blood, especially one who had 
seen a patient who was stnng by a real British adder, 
and whoso whole body, for nearly two days, was 
flushed with the same colours as the reptile. Momor- 
dica Charantia, as it is labelled at Kew, or balsamina 
of some books, is by far the prettiest of the race. 
When it is ripe, it splits open, curls back like a 
Fuchsia, and shows the seed like coral beads, all of 
the richest tints, from orange to the deepest crimson. 
Charantia is the proper name. The grand blue Water 
Lily of Australia, Nymphcea gigantea, was in bloom, 
along side of Victoria Regia. It is really a noble 
thing. All the houses, hot or cold, damp or dry, are 
now furnished with popular flowering plants, just like 
country conservatories, but more gay,—to please who ? 
The people, to be sure, who pay for all these improve¬ 
ments. But if all the “ acts,” from Cromwell’s time 
to fhis, for improving the people, were put into one 
book, and committed to memqry, they would not im¬ 
prove any of us in a lifetime, half so much as one 
season’s visits to these gardens and hothouses. It 
would fill a book to name all the plants I saw in the 
house ; yet, if one had them all by heart, they would 
not improve him, or her, nearly so much as gay, 
popular tribes. But I must mention Cuphea eminens, 
as an exhibition plant. It is a beautiful thing, with 
large Pentstemon-like flowers, in long terminal spikes, 
in shades of orange and red. 
There is the most curious and noble Gunnera scabra, 
which Darwin found in Chiloe, where they eat the 
footstalks of the leaves as we do those of Rhubarb. 
Mr. Darwin measured a leaf which was nearly eight 
feet in diameter, very much like a Rhubarb leaf, and 
four or five of these enormous leaves, presenting 
together a noble appearance. The plant is out at Kew, 
but covered a little from the frost. It was throwing- 
up for bloom in a most singular way,—a long pointed 
pyramicj, studded with long mammillaria-like teats; 
also, bundles of the Cow-itch flowers, looking at a short 
distance like bunches of Blaclc Hamburgh Grapes; 
and, what I had never seen before, the Encephalartys 
pungens, the Caffre bread, in fruit. 
But I must return to better things for improving 
the people. Standard Fuchsias I inquired diligently 
about, and here are the best kinds for making standards 
of, to bloom in or out of doors— Wonderful, Tristram 
Shandy; Admiral Boxer, the father of Wonderful, as 
they say; Autocrat, the latest bloomer ; Donna 
Joaquina, Prince Albert, Globosa magnifica, Souvenir 
de Chiswick, and Variegated, all of which would make 
first-rate standards. The following kinds would do 
best for climbers,—many of them are now up the 
rafters of the show houses :— Acteon, of which there are 
six or seven in the Colonnade at the Crystal Palace; 
Venus de Medici, Clapton Hero, Prince Arthur 
(double), Flavescens, Voltigeur, and Voleana del Aqua ; 
white climbers —Fair Oriana; Von Wrung, the 
children’s favourite; Queen of Hanover, Silver Swan, 
and Snowball. At Kew they grow immense quan¬ 
tities of Fuchsias for decorating the houses, and 
the above is the cream of them for standards and 
climbers. D. Beaton. 
