June 11—We noticed on our stroll today that Abelia chinensis is in fower, This shrub was named in honour of Dr. C. Abel, who was a physician to the Embassy to China under Lord Amherst. It is very pretty shrub when in flower: the individual blooms are small but there are so many of them open at one time that this does not matter. A bed of Lychnis Chalcedoni was nearby and it looked quite attractive: this plant is often referred to as the Jerusalem Cross. It is an old-fashioned scarlet flower and a native of Japan: there is another species native to China, we shall probably see this being offered for sale on our streets shortly. There was a bed of single petunias near the lychnis: it was too far away to clash, These plants are straggly but they do make an effective display. They are generally fragrant in the evening and it is said that the night moths are very fond of them. The name was derived from the South American aboriginal name for tobacco. We also saw a fine group of Spartium junceum the Spanish Broom, The slender rush-lixe stems were covered with yellow flowers, leaves were conspicuous by their absence: The shrubs had become straggly; bu; this seemed to add to their attractiveness. In another garden we saw some beautiful pots of hydrangea: this plant obtains its name from its cup-like fruit (hydro, water and aggeion a vessel). The flowers we saw were a most attractive shade of blue; but what a quantity of fron filings had been used to obtain this colour!! the surface of the soil was hard with iron: we broke a little off and found that it was over an eighth of an inch thick. The result was very effective and the gardener was quite proud of his handiwork,—WIE,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.