November 21, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
181 
or 48-sized pots. These should be well drained by 
means of broken crocks. On this it is customary to 
place a piece of turf from which the soil has been beaten 
out. This is considered of importance by growers of 
the Mignonette, inasmuch as it serves to keep the 
drainage open, a great point in its successful culture. 
Next comes the matter of suitable soil. Get some 
good turfy loam ; that obtained from a heap formed of 
pieces of turf that have been allowed to remain long 
enough to decay thoroughly will be found most accept¬ 
able. This should form about three-fourths of the 
compost, and the remaining part should consist of 
well-rotted manure in a workable condition, leaf soil, 
to which can be added some silver sand, fine charcoal, 
and lime rubbish. These should be thoroughly mixed 
together, and the pots filled with the compost to within 
f in. of the rim. 
The next process is to sow the seed. This should be 
done thinly—thin sowing is a rare virtue among ama¬ 
teur horticulturists—and it should also be distributed 
evenly over the surface. The seed should be slightly 
covered with the soil, and if it is dry, it is well to give 
the surface a good sprinkling through a fine rose water¬ 
ing-pot, if it is moist this will not be necessary. The 
pots can then be placed in an old pit having a sunny 
aspect; they should stand on a bed of cinder ashes 
raised up so as to keep the pots near the glass, say to 
within 6 or 8 ins. of it; and this bed prevents to a 
large extent the ingress of worms. In four or five days 
a good sprinkling of water may be given, and unless 
the sun should be too hot, the frame may be kept closed, 
shading the- pots if necessary. Water should not again 
be administered until the seed is up. 
After the seedlings are through the soil, air may be 
given more freely. When the plants become stronger, 
the lights may be taken off every fine morning. When 
the plants are about 3 ins. high, the leading shoots may 
be stopped in order to make the plants bushy. Water 
should be given sparingly at all times, and in the 
morning during the winter months ; nothing injures 
the plants so much as over-watering. When the plants 
show bloom they may be removed to a conservatory or 
greenhouse. I omitted to state that the seedlings 
should be thinned out to six plants. To keep the pots 
tidy and neat, place four or five neat stakes round the 
inside edge of the pots, and tie some fine matting 
round them 
Some cf the finest Mignonette I ever saw was 
produced some years ago by the late Rev. Geo. Cheere, 
Papworth Hall, St. Ives. The seeds from which these 
plants were raised were sown in August in pans, and 
the seedlings were potted singly into thumb-pots, and 
again into 48-sized pots, in which they had flowered ; 
and at no time was licpiid manure applied to them. 
The plants were from 18 ins. to 24 ins. in height, the 
diameter corresponding ; they were literally covered 
with spikes of flower, some of them were 8 ins. in length, 
and from the base to the apex of each plant every leaf 
was,beautifully green and healthy. 
Mr. Folkard tells us that the Mignonette or Little 
Darling is supposed to be an Egyptian plant, and to 
have been brought to England from the south of France, 
where it is called Herbe d’amour or Love Flower. 
Although a flower of no heraldic fame, the Mignonette 
is nevertheless to be seen on the armoured shield of a 
noble Saxon house, and the origin of its adoption is re¬ 
lated in the following legend A Count of Walstlieim 
was betrothed to Amelia von Nordburg, a rich and beau¬ 
tiful heiress, whose poor cousin Charlotte, an amiable 
girl of no particular personal charms, had been brought 
up with her from infancy. Returning one evening from 
a charitable visit, the humble dependent found her 
aunt’s saloon full of guests, the ladies busily occupied 
in selecting flowers, for which their admirers were 
expected to improvise mottoes. Charlotte was invited 
to follow the example of her betters ; Amelia von 
Nordburg had selected the Rose as her emblem, and 
her companions had naturally chosen such popular 
flowers as were best calculated to elicit gallant com¬ 
pliments. Thus most of the floral favourites had been 
appropiated ; so Charlotte placed a modest spray of 
Mignonette in her dress. Noticing as she did so that her 
coquettish cousin wasneglectingthe Count of Walstheim, 
for the fascinations of a gallant colonel, and anxious to 
recall the thoughtless heiress to her lover’s side, Charlotte 
asked the Count what motto he had ready for the Rose. 
Taking out his pencil he wrote, 1 ‘ EUe ne vit qu’unjour, 
ct ne plait qu’un moment ,” and then presented her with 
this motto for her own Mignonette, “ Ses qualites Sur 
passent ses charmes." His wilful fiancee took offence at 
the Count’s discrimination, and revenged herself by 
treating him with studied coldness and neglect ; the 
result being that the Count transferred his affections to 
the dependent Charlotte, whom he soon afterwards 
married, and to celebrate the event added - a spray of 
Mignonette to the ancient arms of his family.”— R. R. 
THE SCOTCH FIR. 
When driving through one of the home counties a 
short time ago, I was much struck with, what must be 
denominated, the beauty of the Scotch Fir in the 
Autumn, just when the leaves of the huge deciduous 
trees have turned yellow and are falling. What a 
warmth its dense foliage imparts to the landscape. 
This is the only true Pine indigenous to Britain, being 
found wild on the mountains of Scotland. It islargely 
grown in England ; there are large plantations of it in 
Smrey and in Hampshire, as well as elsewhere. When 
it is grown for its timber, it can scarcely be termed an 
ornamental tree, and yet, when planted on suitable 
spots, it is, as already indicated, highly picturesque as 
well as valuable in the landscape. It is a tree that 
“delights in the exposed summits of rocks, over which 
the earth is but thinly scattered, there its roots wander 
afar in the wildest reticulation, while its tall, furrowed, 
and often gracefully sweeping red and grey trunks, of 
enormous circumference, rears aloft its high umbrageous 
canopy.” Sir AValter Scott has well described its 
situation above the rest of the trees of the forest:— 
‘ Aloft the Ash and Warrior Oak 
Cast anchor in the rifted rock, 
And higher yet the Pine-tree hung 
His shattered trunk, and frequent flung, 
Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high, 
His boughs athwart the narrow sky.” 
The timber supplied by the Pine is called yellow deal, 
and the uses to which it is applied render it necessary 
that the stem should be straight. The straightest and 
cleanest grown trees are selected for masts, spars, 
scaffold poles, &c., while the largest trunks are sawed 
into planks for various purposes. Its wood is durable 
and resists the action of water excellently. In Holland 
the Scotch Fir has been used for the purpose of prepar¬ 
ing the foundations of houses in their swampy soils ; 
1-3,659 great masts of this timber were driven into the 
ground for the purpose of forming the foundation of 
the Stadthouse at Amsterdam. 
The Scotch Fir, from its hardy constitution and rapid 
growth, is a useful tree for forming screens, and as a 
nurse for more tender trees. As a tree for planting in 
poor dry soils,. and in exposed situations, it is equalled 
only by the Larch ; when planted as a screen for 
shelter, it is best mixed with the common Spruce, 
and the hardier rapid-growing deciduous trees. 
“The economic value of the Scotch Pine as a timber 
tree is probably not surpassed, in the aggregate, by 
that of any other tree known. The yellow deal it 
supplies is the staple article of trade with many of the 
Baltic and other ports of northern Europe. Although 
highly valued as a timber tree in this country, the 
quality of the timber of home-grown trees is inferior to 
that imported from northern Europe—it is coarser in 
grain, and much less durable. This inferiority is 
believed to be due to climatal causes ; the long and 
severe winters of the north are succeeded by short and 
hot summers, and, under these conditions, the trees 
have periods of rest and activity in their growth, 
which they do not get in the more equable climate of 
Great Britain, and the texture of their wood is affected 
in a corresponding degree. ” 
The Pine is a funereal tree, aud, as is the ease 'with 
all others of its class, it symbolises immortality and 
generation. Like the Cypress and the Fir, on account 
of the durability of its wood and its evergreen foliage, 
it represents the perpetuity of life—a symbol that 
appears singularly in keeping with the funeral rites of 
a people who believed in the immortality of the soul. 
In Russia, when the coffin is being carried to the 
Cemetery, it is covered with branches of Fir. The Pine 
is one of the trees ordered to be used by the Jews 
in erecting their tents at the Feast of the Tabei- 
nacles. — E. IF. 
-—- 
STRAWBERRIES AND BLACK¬ 
BERRIES. 
"Waiting at a small country station on the Eastern 
Counties Railway, towards the end of last summer, I 
had a look round, as is my wont, to see if either the 
station-master or his assistants had any taste for 
gardening, for, according to my experience, if it does 
exist, evidence of the fact is always forthcoming to 
some extent, and frequently in a most pleasing manner. 
At this particular station, however, the only objects of 
interest of ag ardening character were a good breadth of 
Strawberries on the railway embankment, and next to 
A Specimen Plant of Mignonette. 
