365 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 7, 1858. 
Seed of the Ice-plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinunx) is 
vegetated out of doors without any care at all, and at present 
the plants are growing more sturdy and robust than if they 
had been sown in heat. This is not a solitary case. Vege¬ 
table Marrow, Cucumber, Balsam, and others, are continually 
springing up at this place, thus showing that we pay far 
too much attention to such things, with regard to vegetating 
them, than one-half of the annuals at present grown, called 
tender, half-hardy, &c., require. A great portion of these 
things would vegetate freely out of doors, causing no annoy¬ 
ance with “ damping off,” and all the ills young seedlings 
are exposed to, through injudicious watering, giving air, &c. 
Of course, these few remarks are not intended for the prac¬ 
tical gardener, who has plenty of means at command to ob¬ 
viate all these evils, but more for the amateur, who we often 
see rushing into print, complaining that such and such things, 
after vegetating, had “ damped off.” No doubt had they 
been left to themselves out of doors, in a sheltered spot, no com¬ 
plaints of this nature would be so often seen in print. Neither 
I would the nurseryman have blame attributed to him for the 
seed he vends.— John Edlington, Winch House , Seacombe, 
Cheshire. 
HOES.—LABELS EOR AH ARBORETUM. 
In answer to an inquiry relative to the best form for the 
hoe, we have to reply to our querist ( L. >S.) that, with regard 
to the size of the blade, that must depend upon the work to 
he done, and varies from one inch, for thinning seedlings, to 
nine inches, for hoeing between and eartliing-up the Cabbage. 
When the blade is more than three inches, it should be made 
exactly like a stirrup, to prevent wet earth sticking to it, and 
encumbering the operator. They should all be crane-necked, 
whether one-handed, or to be used with two hands ; for this 
shape,—practice pointed out to Mr. Barnes, of Bicton Gardens, 
the inventor,—enables them to be used with the least difficulty 
among growing crops. They should all be fixed to the handle 
by a socket, for this is not liable to become loose. The ac¬ 
companying sketch is of a small one-hand hoe, 
To the query of “ Cantittm,” “ Which has been proved to 
be the best label for an arboretum ?” we confess our inability 
to give a decisive reply. If we were about to prepare such labels, 
we should have them of gal¬ 
vanised iron, and write upon 
them with black paint, by means 
of a small camel’s-hair artist’s 
brush. These would be very 
cheap, very neat, and very dur- 
! able. We should have each lable 
of the shape of the letter T, with 
| the shank very long, for the pur- 
j pose of being thrust into the 
; ground at the base of a tree, or 
bent into a hook form, to hang 
j upon a branch, accordingly as 
the growth and habit of the tree 
! rendered desirable. 
A much more expensive lable 
i is used in the Derby Arboretum. 
It is made of very hard earthen¬ 
ware, and faced, where the name 
is written, with a lighter-coloured 
and finer kind of the same ma¬ 
terial. The writing on it is in¬ 
scribed while the lable is soft, and 
it is then burned in the kiln. It 
is stated to be a very durable, 
and not brittle, lable. Its price 
is fifteenpence. It is represented 
in the annexed drawing. 
BREEDING GLOWWORMS. 
In your number of 27th July, I see a correspondent, 
“ C. M. M.,” is desirous of breeding glowworms, and as you 
said you would be glad of information, I can give you a little, 
although, I confess, not much. 
I, too, have endeavoured to breed them, but have always 
failed in keeping them alive in confinement , while I have 
succeeded by placing the insects on a rockery, amongst Ferns 
and Mosses, and letting them take their chance. This last 
month I brought about a score of females, and three or four 
males, besides a quantity of eggs, which the former had de¬ 
posited on some Moss, into this neighbourhood, from Hert¬ 
fordshire, and I have placed them all in a bed of Lilies of the 
Yalley, where I have no doubt of their succeeding, from 
former experience, and I shall be happy to let your corre¬ 
spondent know the result.— T. 0. II., Saycote, Leicestershire. 
[Pray do.] 
THE “ ILLUSTRATED BOUQUET.” 
The fourth part of this beautiful work has just appeared, 
and may be had of the principal nurserymen and seedsmen, 
and of the principal booksellers throughout the kingdom. It 
is published by the the Messrs. Henderson, of the Wellington 
Road Nursery, St. John’s Wood, London. For thirty long 
years I have been in the habit of running over the illustrated 
periodicals in botany and gardening, with ladies and gentle¬ 
folks in all parts of the country, and I ought to know their 
wants and wishes, as well as any gardener whatsoever; but the 
best proof of the fact, that the said periodicals were not just 
the thing for the age, is, that every one of them except the 
oldest, or grandmamma, the “ Botanical Magazine,” died out 
from sheer starvation. Anything on popular botany, so to 
speak, would go down. But the managers of the magazines 
could not perceive that they persisted in publishing their weeds 
and wormwood in the jargon of their craft, which is so re¬ 
pulsive to the taste of the age, that at last no one would 
take in their books or read them. Dr. Bindley wrote a 
book on purpose for the ladies to learn botany, and a very 
good book it was. But it would not do, for he, and all like 
him, were too proud to write common-sense, and too ignorant 
of common things, to illustrate, or explain, and teach, about 
popular plants, bedding plants, florists’ plants, fine-leaved 
plants, sweet-scented plants, plants to cut nosegays from, 
plants to put on the breakfast and dinner-tables, or for decorat¬ 
ing the rooms, and all common and most useful plants for the 
common use of everyday purpose ; and, to crown the whole, 
their dog Latin was unintelligible, and that finished them. 
The “ Illustrated Bouquet,” or pictured nosegay, which is 
the same thing, ought to be seen by everyone who is fond of 
flowers. First, in the shops of the principal nurserymen and 
seedsmen throughout the kingdom, to see how he, or she, or 
they, may like it, and also to think over it, if they can afford 
to take it in quarterly as it comes out, and become subscribers, 
which is the cheapest way by three shillings a-quarter. Every¬ 
body in Surbiton, and all round this part of the country, may 
see it at the Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, and so in all parts 
of the three kingdoms ; and if there is one lady in all these 
places who would not like to have it on her table, she 
is to be pitied. Young ladies are sure to have it in their 
marriage settlement, as soon as they make up their minds. 
I will tell them what is in this fourth part, which begins 
with Plate XVI., on which six kinds of variegated leaves are 
represented, and a branch of a hanging-basket plant, in the 
style of Achimenes, called Coccocyyselum reyens , with clusters 
of deep indigo-blue berries. The plants and their manage¬ 
ment are there described, after an eulogy on variegated fine¬ 
leaved plants, which have for some time attracted the attention 
of cultivators. That time is just twenty years last May, and 
this is the first nosegay we have had of such plants; but I 
can supply the history of this attraction to the very letter. 
The first of such plants were exhibited by a Frenchman, of 
the name of Deschamps, before the Horticultural Society, in 
Regent Street, in July, 1836. They made a wonderful sensa¬ 
tion among the visitors. I was one of them, and took the hint. 
For the next two years, I was in the constant habit of un¬ 
packing rare plants from foreign parts ; and I made a point of 
taking some of the most curious of them, whether dead or j 
