AS this plant is often labelled Corchorus Japonica, we commence this notice by saying that it is not a corchorus, and should never be so called. The corchorus is allied to the lime-tree; the Kerria is allied to the spiraea, and is, therefore, a rosaceous plant. The leaves are quite spiraea-like; but the flower of the double variety may take us far away from spiraea, until we examine it carefully.

The Japan Kerria is named in honour of Mr. William Kerr, a collector sent out from the Royal Gardens at Kew, and some time superintendent of the Botanic Garden in Ceylon. The hardiness and beauty of the double variety, which was first introduced, made the botanists desire to obtain the single from of the plant; and Don, in the second volume of his "Dichlamydeus Plants" (p. 517), intimates that it was still unknown in 1832, when that work was published. But it was figured in the fourth volume of Sweet's "Flower Garden" (t. 337), which is dated 1838, and its introduction is there ascribed to Mr. Reeves, through whom many valuable plants were secured from China and Japan for the enrichment of our gardens. Sweet reports that the double Kerria was introduced in the year 1804; but in the current works of reference the year 1700 is attached to both the single and double kinds, as though they were introduced together. However, it is, after all, of but very little consequence whether this plant, as an inmate of our gardens, dates from 1700 or 1804.

Kerria Japonica is perfectly hardy, and very accommodating. It will grow in any good border, and is usually planted next a wall; and while being trained in the ordinary way, it soon lends its supporter the adornment of its bright green leaves and golden flowers. It is not given to any great degree of variation; but a handsome large-flowered variety has lately been presented to the notice of the Royal Horticultural Society by James McIntosh, Esq., of Weybridge, and has been named, to distinguish it, "Kerria Japonica major."

The single form, as figured by Sweet, is simple and elegant, the flowers having five rounded oblong petals of a rich yellow colour, and somewhat resembling those of a potentilla. It is, we think, a matter for regret that this single flower is not to be met with in gardens generally; indeed, we doubt if it could be easily found in the botanic gardens, so little attention has it hitherto obtained.

To propagate the Kerria is an easy matter. The old wood is of no use for the purpose. Young shoots, when just becoming firm, may be cut off at a joint, and planted firmly in a pot filled with sandy loam, and covered with a bell-glass. These will need an occasional sprinkling of water to keep them fresh; but the soil should not be more than moderately moist, or the cuttings will rot. In the course of about three weeks roots will be formed, and then the glass may be removed. Plants of this kind should be grown in pots for a year, and then be planted out where they are to remain.

There are many fine subjects available for the clothing of a warm wall that cannot be advantageously grown any other way. Those who can command a sheltered situation and a good deep, well-drained border, may festoon their walls with some splendid examples of exotic vegetation. One of the finest plants for the purpose is the Bignonia radicans, the "trumpet-flowered ash," a North American plant; and there is a near relative, Tecoma grandiflora, a native of Northern Asia. These have trumpet-shaped flowers, richly coloured scarlet and yellow. The Wistaria sinensis, though well known, is not so often to be seen as one would wish, considering how many grimy walls there are in the world, and how easy it is to make them beautiful. Bomarea salsilla may be called the climbing lily, although it is not a lily, but an amaryllid. It will run from five to seven feet, and produce pretty clusters of purple flowers. Clianthus puniceus, the glory pea of New Zealand, is a grand wall plant for the western counties. The flowers are curious and splendid, and may be likened to lobster claws in form and colour. Magnolia grandiflora is, perhaps, the finest of all the wall plants that are hardy enough to bear twenty degrees of frost. This it will bear, but no more, and therefore it is only in the southern and western counties that the evergreen magnolia acquires age enough to flower freely.