224 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 10, 1860. 
pagation of his predecessor, as Mr. Gordon has had to do 
from the propagation of Mr. Eyles ; and it is perfectly 
impossible, even if the three were three brothers, that 
any one of them could altogether comprehend the exact 
mind of either of the other two, so as to be able to plant 
as the other who provided for the planting intended to 
plant—a succession of realised difficulties, in fact. If 
you want to be just as well as generous, you can hardly 
find room for criticising a planter of bedding plants who 
has not provided his own stock—that is, who has not 
had an opportunity of ordering the propagation according 
to the way he intended to plant. But Mr. Gordon was 
propagator and head manager for the first two head 
gardeners at the Crystal Palace, and it was a wise and 
very economical plan of the Directors to have seized the 
opportunity of profiting by so much practical experience, 
instead of sending out for far-fetched birds of feather, for 
a stranger to come in and manage. With these ad¬ 
vantages in his favour we must criticise Mr. Gordon’s 
planting to a level beam which places the scales on the 
same level. 
Well, he has done it, and done it well, too, and has 
made considerable improvements on the style of planting ; 
and this planting I booked and criticised before I had 
ever seen Mr. Gordon’s face, as far as I know; and when 
all was done I went in to hear the French singers, and 
stopped to see the end of it, and June was well nigh over 
before I could get home. 
Of Geraniums, Sidonia, King Rufus, Quereifolium mul- 
tiflorum, Randy, Grossularicpfolium, Igneseens supevbum, 
and Igneseens minor (for Shrubland Ret), Unique, Hack 
Prince (one of the Citriodorums), and a few others of the 
greenhouse and scarcer kinds of bedding plants are out 
in considerable quantities. No Tom Thumbs at all this 
season. The Crystal Palace Scarlet and Punch are the 
best plain-leaved scarlets. Trentham Rose, for the first 
line, and Christine, ditto, are the two best of their pinks. 
Cottage Maid is their best horseshoe scarlet. Compactum 
is going out, and Mrs. Vernon is coming in. Pothergillii 
is in great numbers, and is their best Nosegay Geranium ; 
but they have other nosegays and minimums for which 
they are almost daft. Tom Thumb's Pride is their repre¬ 
sentative of Lucia rosea, and does remarkably well at the 
Crystal Palace. Le Titien is given up for bad habit, and 
Rubens is taken in good earnest as the best salmon-tinted 
bedder. 
Lantanas, both of the Crocea and Sellowii breeds 
are there, and abundance of Calceolaria amplexieaulis. 
But the grand secret is, another new bedder of the 
Lobbianum section of Tropccolums, with the very same 
style and habit as elegans and Stamfordianum, and 
much larger flowers of quite a different colour. A 
canary yellow, nearly in the way of Triomphe de Go¬ 
daiming, with fine dark spots all round over the eye. 
It is the nearest thing to what Mr. Hobson has been 
praying for with such earnestness, to supplement the 
yellow Calceolarias, when they go off without wishing 
one good bye, and the name is Triomphe de ILyris. Now 
for the nurseries here is a trade plant, if you please. 
No committee is half so good as the floral flower-beds 
on the open lawn ; and no bedder we have had for years 
sold better than this must do. To show you Mr. Gordon’s 
confidence in it, he has planted every other circle with it 
along the whole stretch of the bottom on the grand 
terrace, alternating with Tropceolum elegans, and there 
must be eleven or twelve beds of each of them in that 
one run. And there is one experimental bed with a fac 
simile of Tropceolum Brilliant, not the Brilliant of the 
common Nasturtium, which was cancelled by The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener when it was sent for judgment on 
account of a previous Brilliant of the Lobbianum section. 
This is larger than the true Brilliant, is of the very same 
tint, and blooms from May to October. The Brilliant 
only comes into bloom at the end of August, and w r as 
given up in the Experimental on that account. It is a 
variety of Lilli Schmidt; and if it answers as well as 
elegans and Triomphe de Hyris, it will be a good addition 
to our limited number of really good new bedders. 
There is one bed of Farfugium grande and Punch 
Geranium, plant for plant; and some of the fine-leaved 
Begonias will have to be used in the same way. And 
while I think of it, there is another move about these 
Begonias, which suggested itself from another basket of 
them just received info the Experimental, which must be 
proved next winter. They make strong fleshy stems, from 
which the leaves and flowers issue; and I can see no 
reason why these fleshy stems without the leaves may 
not be kept dry or half dry all the winter, like old stumps 
of Scarlet Geraniums, for bedding purposes, both to 
plant out in large lumps next season, and to propagate 
from in the spring, when the Cucumbers and cutting- 
frames are set to work. Why should that rmove not 
answer as my Farfugium has done last winter? It 
lost its leaves by the first frost, and kept that way in 
the open ground all the winter, and did not begin to 
sprout until the end of March ; but it took no hurt. 
And what is to hinder large lumps of Begonia Rex and 
the like of it from doing as well, packed away in dry 
mould in the cellar, or on some dry shelf near the fire¬ 
place to the greenhouse ? Make herbaceous plants of 
them, and keep them dry and from the frost, just like 
Potatoes; and all who like may then possess them for 
the decorations, and there is no end or limit to their pro¬ 
pagation in the spring. 
Now for the wheel within the wheel, and the bedding 
on the Bose Mount. The first improvement there is in 
the rosery itself, which is in six great divisions ; and each 
division is edged all round with the large common China 
Bose. This China is now trained low as Verbenas, and 
makes a fine fringe to the Perpetuals. The six angle- 
beds at the corners of the six walks up the Bose Mount 
are thus planted, beginning opposite the railway entrance, 
and going round by the right-hand side. First all of 
Cottage Maid horseshoe Geranium edged with Flower of 
the Ray; second, a plain-leaved Scarlet Geranium edged 
with the crimson Ivyleaf; third, Fotfiergillii, or Purple 
Nosegay, edged with Flower of the Ray; fourth, Calceo¬ 
laria amplexieaulis and Ageratum Mexicanum, plant for 
plant, and edged with the variegated Ageratum ; fifth. 
Punch, edged with Cerastium ; and the sixth with 
Igneseens superba and variegated Alyssum. Then for 
match beds and single beds along these six walks, I 
select the following for you, but booked them all for 
myself for future comparison. A single bed of Alma 
variegated Geranium, and mixed with the scarlet varie¬ 
gated Verbena pulchella, alias Imperatrice Eugenie, and 
alias Manetti coccinea —a splendid bed. Tropceolum 
elegans, several beds, and various edgings of Verbena; 
two noble beds of the finest of all the gay greenhouse 
Geraniums Sidonia —one edged with lilac Ivyleaf, the 
other with crimson ditto. Orange-scarlet or salmon- 
coloured Geranium Rubens, and repeated. The strong 
variegated Geranium called Bijou. Salvia patens edged 
with a dark Heliotrope. Igneseens superba and King 
Rufus edged with Shrubland Pet, but not the true one— 
it is the old Igneseens minor. Sidonia, Golden Chain , 
and King Rufus were so puny twenty years back that no 
one could get them to stand out of doors; but good 
gardeners brought them to stand the tempests on this 
Mount. A single bed of Randy and Lobelia speciosa, 
plant for plant, is just fit for a fairy queen; they stand 
eight or nine inches apart all over the bed. Flower of 
the Ray, and variegated Alyssum, plant for plant—fine 
in dull days, and too good for a good eye in the sun. 
King Rufus, which is in the way of Touchstone, and Rouge 
et Noir and Rr. Lindley, edged with two rows of Black 
Prince —a capital, new, very dwarf edging Geranium of 
the citriodorum breed. Mangles’ variegated Geranium 
and Purple King Verbena, plant for plant. A bed of 
Brilliant var. Geranium, edged with Baron Hugel ditto, 
