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I
THE
FLORAL WORLD
GARDEN GUIDE.
EDITED
BY
SHIRLEY HIBBERD, ESQ., F.R.H.S.
180?.
l^^ ^^ tht >
NEW YO^ ?t
londo:n':
GROOMBRIDGE AND SONS,
5, PATEENOSTE-R ROW.
HAEEItr, P^_^fB, L05E02r.
INDEX.
PAGE
Acacia 43
Achimenes 126
Adiantums, greenhouse and hardy 169
AdiantTuns for cases 173
Adiantams of the stove 195
Adiantom pedatum 37
AilantM-cultare 287
Alpine strawberry 63
Altemanthera paronychioides 50
Amarantlms melancholicos 51, 107
American mode of growing black-
berries 122
Anaectocbilus setacens, rival to 46
Angular prickly shield fern 273
Annuals for the greenliouse in early
spring 250
Antennaria tomentosa 50
Arab'a papyrifera 167
Arcanum of perpetual beauty 97
Areca. Bauerii 69
Artemisia annua 107
Artemisia argentea 7. 51
Artichoke 291
Artificial stone for gardens 193
Art of increasing plants by cuttings 73
Arundinaria falcata 166
Arundo conspicua 51,107,165
Asparagus 292
Asplenium angustifolium 37
Asplenium ebeneum 38
Aspidistra luriJa variegata 216
Aster for exhibition and decoration 116
Athyrium asplenoides 3S
Aucuba berries 159
Aucuba Hinialaica 192
Aucuba Japonica 134
Aucubas 235
Auricula 10, 47, 102, 294
Azalea suckers 126
Bambusa Fortunei 237
Barberry hedge 54
Beans 331
Bedders, a few select 209
Bedders, few of the most effective
flowering 71
Bedders, superb variegated-leaved 49
Bedding combination 152
Beet-root 132
Berberidopsis coraUina 236
Berberis 190
PAGB
Berberis Japonica, concinna, For-
tunei, etc 345
Biennial lifting of miniature finait-
trees 87
Bit of gossip on herbaceous plants 26
Bocconia 107
Border for roses 351
Borecole or kale 332
Boronias 273
Bourbon roses 81
Braheadulcis 70
Briers for budding • 321
British Queen strawberry, cultiva-
tion of ' 40
Bulbous flowers in the garden,
squares, and puMic walks of
large towns 313
Btilbs for windows and greenhouses 21
Burrs used for rockery 4
Cacti, on the cultivation of the ... 366
Caladiums 67, 127
Calceolarias 71, 2S1
Camellia house 64
Camellias, six foot 353
Cannas 16
Caraganas 8
Carnations « 155
Caryotaurens 70
Cassia 43
Caught napping 55
Chamaedorea atrovirens 70
Chamadorea elatior 70
Chamaepuce diacantha _ 109
Chamaerops excelsa 69
Chamserops Fortunei 69
Chamaerops himiilis 69
Chapter for ladies on gathering and
arranging flowers 185
Charcoal in pots 64
Charlock 288
Cherry and plum-tree grafts failing 357
Choice garden, notes for 14
Chorozema 272
Chrysanthemum Sensation 49
Chrysanthemums 63
Chrysanthemums in pots, eidtivated
for exhibition 21
Chrysanthemums, selection of 93
Chrysanthemum in 1867, the 353
Cineraria 122
IV
INDEX.
FA6B
Clematis lanuginosa 7
Cocoa-nut fibre refuse for orchids 215
Cocos australis 70
Coleus Verscbatielti 51
Collectinsr and selecting 65
Colours of trees in autumn 299
Conifers for the flower-garden, and
its immediate surroundings . . . 308
Constitution, soil, and general treat-
ment of the auricula 10
Convolvulus mauritanicus 72
Cooking sea-kale 96
Cosmelia rubra 272
Crambe cordifoUa 166
Crinum capense 167
Cuttings, art of increasing plants by 73
Cuttings in cocoa-nut fibre 63
Cyperus 4A
Cyrtoraium caryotideum 38
Cyrtomium falcatum 38
DactyKs glomerata 50
Dahlia cultivation 141
Dahlia Imperialis 210
Dahlias 71
Dahlias, selection of fifty 125
Daisy, the 78
Datura 42
Daubentonia 44
Davaliias 191
Delphinium formosum 167
Dendrobium moniliforme 62
Designs for select beds of hardy
pknts 280
Diosma capitata 272
Double Clitoria tematea 288
Double white sweet pea 127
Dracaena australis 167
Early-flowering plants for the
greenhouse 271
Effects of the past winter 164
Eleagnus reflexus 236
Elymus glauca 168
English fruit-growing 289
Epacris 272
Equisetum 204
Eranthemum pulcheUum 278
Erythrina 42
Eucharis amazonica 159
Euonjrmus latif olia aurea 236
Enonymus radicans variegata 236
Eurya latif olia variegat a 236
Eutaxia myrtif oHa 272
Evergreen for windows 61
Evergreen shrubs for a border 350
Extenso grape vines 302
Fabiana imbricata 272
Failures in small gardens 257
Ferdinandia emicus 110
Ferns and fern cases 83, 96
Ferns from spores 61
Ferns, hardy exotic 35
Ferula commimis 109
Few of the most effective flowering
bedders 71
Fifty spring flowers 127
FA.OS
Finger-post f orpurchasers of plants,
seeds, etc., 92, 125, 154, 283,
315, 348.
Flowering of the yucca for the pur-
pose of display 85
Forcing sea-kale 19
Forcing strawberries 350
Fourcrova longaeva 251
Fruit crop of 1867 161
Fruit-growing in England 289
Fruit-trees on poor soils 69
Fruit prospects 325
Fuchsia cultivation 181
Fuchsia Golden Fleece 328
Fuchsias, selection of 92
Garden designs, picturesque 321
Garden Guide. 31, 95, 125, 157, i87>
218, 252, 285, 319,1349, 374.
Garden Oracle for 1867 58
Garden walks 256
Gathering a fern 287
Gatherings from exhibitions ... 219,253
Grazania splendens 72
Genetyllis and hedaroma 127
Generic distinction between cala-
dium and alocasia 126
Genista 273
Geranium Brilliantissima 209
Geraniums 71, 154
Gesnera zebrina 52
Gladioli ■. 233
Gladioli, hints on the cultivation of 86
Gladioli, selection of 94
Glance at the rosery 296
Globe amaranthus, culture of 77
Golden Balm 50
Golden Feather pyrethrum 209
Goldfinch geranium 209
Grafting the grape vine 213
Grafting vines 376
Grr; 'J vines 302
Gre.i -edged auricula 104
Greenhouse construction 158
Greenhouse and hardy adiantums 169
Greenhouse spring-flowers 24
Greenhouse plants in winter, pre-
servation of 363
Grevillea 45
Grev-edged auricula 104
Ground vinery 120, 158,190
Gymnogrammas 216
Hsemony ,., 376
Hardiness of salsify 192
Hard- wooded plants 159
Hardy adiantums 172
Hardy and nearly hardy plants 68
Hardy deciduous trees 53
Hardy exotic ferns 35
Hardy flowers of the year 333
Hardy herbaceous plants 27, 56, 64, 191
Hardy plants for the flower-garden 165
Heating a small plant-house 126
Heating with a flue 160
Hedera Algeriensis 7
Hedge plant, barberry 54
Heliotropes .'. 72
INDEX.
PAGE
Heracleum ^ganteum 168
Herbaceous hardy plants 27
Herbaceous plants, a bit of gossip
on 26
Herbaceous plants easy of culture
in all parts of the British, isles 111
Herbaceous plants for rockeries ... 8
Hints on plant-growing in living
rooms 174
Home-grown briers for budding ... 321
Horticultural affairs 88
Hortus fenestralis 129
How to obtain cuttings 73
Hyacinths 315
Hybrid perpetuals 80
Iberis, or candytuft 335
Impataens jerdonise 147
Ilex Fortunei 236
Inarching vines 176
Iresine herbstii 50
Ivies, variegated 50
Ivy-leaved geranium, L' elegante ... 209
Ivy, some uses of 146
Ixias and tritomas 233
Japanese plants suitable for Eng-
lish gardens 235
Jasminum nudiilorum 7
Kennedia monophylla 273
Lantana,s 72
Lapageria rosea 352
Large-flowering pelargoniums 233
Lastrea semula 237
Lastrea f. m., var. grandiceps 277
Lastrea Goldieana 38
Lastrea marginahs 38
Lastrea noveboracensis 38
Lastrea Sieboldii 38
Latania Bourbonica 69
Leaf impressions, how to take 208
Lechenaultia formosa 273
Leicester garden vase 350
Ligularia gigantea 168
LiHum auratum 166
Lilium eximium 320
Lilium giganteura 166
List of hardy deciduous trees 53
LobeHa erinus, Miss Murphy 210
Lobelia erinus spectabilis 210
Lobelia, Indigo Blue 328
Lobelias 233
Lomaria Chilensis 39
Lomaria MageUanica 39
Lonicera brachypoda reticulata ... 7
Loudon's Hortus Brittanicus 96
Love-lies-bleeding 107
Luculia gratissima 342
Management of wiadow plants . . . 239
Maxims on propagating 70
Mignonette 250
ilildewed vines 350
Moss on gravel walks 95
Mushrooms under the greenhouse
stage 207
PAGB
Mushroom cultivation 148
Myosotis sylvatica 32
Xemophila insignis 250
New plants, 29, 61, 90, 123, 156, 187, 217
252, 284, 317, 346, 372.
New roses of this and last year ... 177
Xicotiana 16
Xierembergia .gracilis 73
Noble hardy plants for the flower
garden 105
Nosegay geraniums 327
Notes on Messrs. F. and A. Smith's
tricolor and bronze zonale ge-
raniums 267
Notes on new bedding plants 327
CEnothera prostrata 72
On some nearly hardy exotic ferns 35
Orange culture 278
Osmanthus ihcifoHa 236
Osmunda cinnamomea 39
Oxylobium retusum 273
Pampas grass 126,165
Pansy cultivation 144
Pansy, Imperial Blue 329
Pansies 154
Papaver pulcherrimum 168
Paris Exhibition 157
Paul's rose garden 221
Peach-houses and peach-trees that
have fruited 344
Peaches and nectarines without
walls or glass 329
Pelargonium culture 150
Pelargoniums 155
Perennial cucumber 109
Petunias 73
Phlox 267
Phlox as a bedding plant 331
Phoenix dactylifera 70
Phormium tenax 167
Phytolacca decandra 167
Picotees 155
Picotees, carnations, etc 128
Picturesque ia garden designs 321
Pimelea 272
Pinching and pruning 375.
Pinks 156
Plant-growing in living-room 174
Planting ground vineries 95
Planting on a bank 287
Planting pincushion-beds 63
Plants adapted for the plunging
system 230
Plants destroyed mysteriously 64
Plants for rockeries 7
Pleopeltis lycopodioides 83
Pleopeltis membranacea 83
Pleopeltis pustulata 83
Pleopeltis terminalis 83
Plunging system 97, 158
Poa trivialis 50
Poa trivialis argentea 210
Polystichum angulare 113, 275
Polystichum pungens 39
Potatoes 128
INDEX.
FAGB
Potting the cuttings 75
Pot vines, raising and fruiting 58
Preser^^ng fruit, advice on 369
Prince's Feather 107
Propagating, maxims on 76
Propagation and preservation of
bedding plants 218
Pruning 'ijo
Pruning nut-trees 62
Pruning vines 63
Pultcnia stricta 272
Pyrethritm, Golden Feather 328
Eaising and fruiting pot vines, as
practised in England 58
Eambling thoughts 279
Raspberry and blackberry, the 359
Retinospora lycopodioides 236
Retinospora obtusa 236
Rheum emodi 168
Rhododendrons 191
Rhododendrons, propagating 352
Rhubarb cultivation from early sup-
plies 79
Rhus cotinus 7
Rhyncospermum jasminoides 159
Ricinus 46
Rival to Ansectochilus setaceus ... 46
Rockery at Stoke NeTvington 3
Rockeries, plants for 7
Rose in a tub 319
Rosery, glance at 296
Rosmarinus officinalis 7
Roses in 1867 80,226
Roses, new, of this and last year . . . 177
Roses on Manetti stocks 351
Roses, three groups of good 338
Roses, winter propagation of 25
Sabal Adamsonii 70
Salading during the summer 133
Salsafy, cultivation of 110
Santolina incana 50
Schizanthus pinnata 251
Scorzonera 159
Scotch thistle 109
Seaf orthia elegans 70
Sea-kale, its culture, with remarks
onforcingit 19
Sedum spectabile 234
Seedling roses 62
Seeds and seedHngs of auricula ... 47
Seeds to be grown in month of July 211
Select bedders 209
Select bedding combination 152
Selection of vegetables for 1867 ... 89
Selection of first-class herbaceous
plants of easy culture in all
parts of the British isles Ill
Selfs, auricula 103
Sensitive plant 307
September work in the flower
garden 264
Shadyborder 320
Shrubs and flowers which thrive
under the drip of trees 308
Skimmias and their cultivation 199
Snowdrops on grass lawns 307
PAGB
s manure 94
Soil for the auricula 10
Solanmns 15
Spring flowers for -windows, green-
houses, and choice flower-beds 24
Standard wallflowers 288
Stove for plant-house 158
Strawberry, British Queen 40
Strawberries, jjlanting 17
Strawberries, the best 304
Striking plants to be grown from
seed for the choice garden 106
Striped-leaved maize 110
Struthiopteris Germanica 39
Sub-tropical plants 159
Sub-tropical plants for the choice
garden 67
Sub-tropical plants that may be
grown from seed 14
Sub-tropicals that may be ^own.
from seed 42
Succulents for rockeries 9
Summer salading 13^
Superb variegated-leaved bedders 49
TaUlobelias 234
Tansy 233
Tea- scented roses 60
Tender pahns 70
Three groups of good roses 338
Thrip on greenhouse ferns 351
Thinning the crop of fruits in the
orchard-house 118
Thrinas parviflora 70
Thujopsis dolabrata 236
Todea hymenophylloides 8S
Transplanting trees 310
Treatment of Luculia gratissima ... 342
Tricolor and bronze zonule ge-
raniums 267
Tricolor geraniums 283
Tricolor-leaved pelargoniums 245
Tritoma uvaria 165
Tropseolum Advancer 209
Tropseolums 72
TropaBolums, King of Scarlets and
Scarlet Gem 190
Uses of the ivy 146
Value of cocoa-nut fibre refuse in
the cultivation of orchids 215
Variegated conifers 158
Variegated Cyperus alternifoHus,
cultivation of 266
Variegated geraniums 327
Variegated ivies 50
Variegated ivy 61
Variegated leaves 256
Variegated-leaved geraniums 72
Variegated-leaved plants for rock-
eries 9
Variegated willow herb 233
Vegetables for 1867 89
Villa kitchen garden, 199, 242, 261, 291,
331, 356.
Vine, a fine .., 69
Vine disease 64
INDEX.
PAG8
Tine leaves from Norfolk 2.^3
Vines, inarchins^ 176
Vines in ground \'in8ry ^ 3l9
Viola cornuta 256, 329
Verbenas --•72, 155
Verbesina verbascifolia 110
Virginian creeper 351
Vitis hederacea 7
Weeping trees 339
White-edged auricula 105
Wigandia 45
Window boxes 24
PA. OB
Window plants 239
Window spring flowers 24
Winter propagation of roses 25
Winter treatment of kitchen-
gardens 318
Wood war dia orientalis 40
Woodwardia radicans 39
Worms on lawns 350
Yucca flowering for display 85
Zonale geraniums 230
NEW PLiJ^TS.
Acer (Polymorphum) palmatum ... 318
Acer (Polymorphum) palmatum
sanguuieum 318
Adiantum scutum 187
^chmea glomerata 374
Aerides Vandarum 373
Amp elopsis serj anise folinus ....
Asperula azurea setosa 372
Aerides Thibautianum 29
Agave Schidigera 317
Agave xylonacantha 285
AmaryUis 91
Amaryllis pardina 217
Angrtecum citratum 91
Anthuriuiii pedatifidum 347
Anthurium reflexum 372
Aquilegia Pyreniaca 346
Aristolochia tricaudata 317
Athyrium latitblium 30
Aucuba Japoniea grandidentata
maculat a 346
Azalea, Her Majesty 346
Azalea Indica Francois Devos 187
Barleria Gibsoni 91
Begonia Veitchii 317
Begonia BoKviensis 284
Billbergia sphacelata 218
Bletia hvacinthiaa albo-striata 34:7
Bletia Sherratdana 217
Bolbophyllum Siamenso 373
Bossiae Hendersoni 372
Boweia volubilis 90
Cselogj^e biflora 29
CaelogjTie lagenaria 157
Camellia Angelo Cocchi 252
Camellia Carlotta Polosa 318
Camellia Constantin Tretiakoff. ' 156
Camellia Japoniea SteUa Polare ... 91
Castronema sanguineum 156
Catakidozamia Ilopei 29
Cattleva amethystoglossa 30
CattleyaDowiana 61, 318
Cattleya quadricolor 187
Cirrhopetalum Papudii 347
Cistrum elegans 285
Clavija fulgens 91
Colax jugosus 317
Cotonea.ster Fontanesi 347
Corysanthes picta 346
Curcuma xlustralasica
Cymbidium Hookerianum .
Cypella cterulea
Cypripedium Schlimii
Cyrtodeira Montalensis ...
Dalechampia Roezliana . . . .
372 i^aphne Genkwa
Delphinium Triomphe de Pontoise
Dendi'obium Bullerianum
Dendrobium capiUipes
Dendrobium C harltonii
Dendrobium macrophyllum
Dendrobium pycuostach>-um
Desmodium penduliflorum
Dodecatheon JelFreji :
Draba violacea
Dombeya angulata
Dracaena surculosa
Epidendi-u.m amethystiuum
Epidendrum brassavolae
Epideudrum Cooperianum
Epidendrum cremidophoram
Epideudrum dichromum
Epidendrum eburneum 157,
Erodium macradenium
Eupatoi-ium riparium
Epidendrum sophronites
Epimedium alpinum, var. rubrum .
E ucodonia na^gelioides
Ficus Sm-ingarii
Fittoni a argyroneui-a
Gladiolus, garden varieties
Gloxinia hypocry tiflora
Glyphfea Monteiroi
Goodyera maerantha
Goodyera velutina
Gomphia theophrasta
Gonatostemon Borcheanum
Grias cauliflora _^
Griftinia Blumena\'ia 3173
Grirtinia hyacmthina maxima
Helianthemum ocymoides
Heliconia humilis
Heliotropium convolvulaceum
Hemerocallis f ulva k wanso
Hemerocallis Middendorfi
Hydrangea paniculala floribunda . . .
Hydrangea pamculata grandiflora
Hydrangea Japoniea macrosepala- . •
91
29
123
90
373
317
372
34G
234
373
61
218
30
346
372
252
372
316
372
317
252
284
29
372
317
347
373
374
373
372
373
126
252
29
373
373
157
372
123
347
372
123
156
156
347
347
347
373
347
VUl
INDEX.
PAGE
Impatiens latifolia 91
Ipomaea Gerrardi 252
Iris Ksempferi 347
Lselia majalis 374
Lamprococcus Weilbacliii 347, 373
Larix Kaempferi 124
-Lilium hnematocliroum 126
Lomaria ciliata 30
Lomaria dura 30
Lomaria Leclileri 30
•Magnolia Lenuei 373
Maranta rosea picta 373
Maranta illustris 187, 373
Maranta roseo-picta 15G
Miltonia rosea 318
My osotis semperflorens 91
Myrtus Cheken 187
Nanones medusse 346
Nasonia cinnabarina 372
Nidularium Laurentii 372
Notylia bicolor 29
Odontoglossum astranthuni 346
Odontoglossum crocatum 372
Odontoglossum Dawsonianum 29
Odontoglossvun nebulosnm 373
Odontoglossum nebulosum can-
didum 373
dontoglossum roseum 372
Odontoglossum Scliileperianum ... 29
Odontoglossum triumphans 346
Oncidium holochrysum 30
Oncidium nubigenum 372
Oncidium serratum 124
Opbiopogon Japonicus argenteo-
striatus 347
Osbeckia rubicunda 30
Palaver flexuosa 30
-Passiflora fulgens 346
Passiflora Banksii 373
Pavetta Hookeri 372
Pear, Beurre de Pr omental 91
PAGS
Peperomia arifolia 124
Pliajus inquilinus 346
Phajus irroratus 347
Platycrater arguta 372
Pleroma sarmentosa 124
• Pleurotballis Saundersiana 29
Prostantliera nivea 284
Lselia Pilclieri 373
E-baphia tsedigera 61
/Rhododendron marginato-puncta-
tum 124
Rondeletia Purdiei 374
Rudgea macropliylla 252
Saccolabium curvif olium 91
Saccolabium giganteum 346
Sarcanthus erinaceus 124
Sedum Maximowiczii 372
S edum maximum versicolor 373
Sedum Japonicum 372
Sipliocampylus fulgens 346
Sipbocampylus Humboldtianus .... 124
Smilax longifolia variegata 284
Spirantkes margaritifera 29
Stanhopea saccata 29
Stemonacanthus Pearcei 217
Strawberry, Perpetual Pine 91
Synadenium Grantii 124
Tacsonia Buclianani 284
Tapeinotes Carolinse 91
Thunbergia fragrans 187
Thapsia decipiens 374
Tricbocentrum albo-purpureum ... 30
Tricbocentrum cornucopise 30
^Ulmus campestris 187
-Ulmus campestris aurea 347
Vanda Bensonii 29, 347
Viola pedata 284
Vriesia gigantea 252
Vriesia bracbystachys 347
^ Weigelia Middendorffiana 91
,/ Zea Japonica albo-vittata 37S
ENGEAYINGS.
Adiantum cuneatum 171
Adiantum Cunninghami 196
Agave Schidigera 317
Bocconia Japonica 108
Cypella cserulea 123
Daiechampia RoezKana 318
Diagrams of Japonica 137
Equisetum sylvaticum 203
Figures of Cuttings 73, 74, 75
Fruits of Aucuba 138
Garden design 323
Grias cauliflora 123
Ground plan of rockery, Stoke
Newington 5
Helianthemum 124
Heliconia bumilis 156
Heliotropium convolvulaceum 156
Hortus fenestralis 130,131
Lastrea aemula 238
Lastrea filix mas., var. grandiceps 276
Mushrooms under greenhouse stage 208
Plan of a villa kitchen-garden 200
Pleopeltis membranacea 82
Polystichum angulare, var. gran-
diceps 114
Polystichum angulare 274
Rockery, summer-house, and bee-
shed at Stoke Newington 4
Todea hymenophylloides 2S
Woodwardia radicans 34
THE FLORAL WORLD
GARDEN GUIDE.
JANUARY, 186 7.
DESCEIPTION OF A EOCKERY AT STOKE NEWINGTON.
TIE casual notice of my rockery which occurred in an
article on the Bracken in the Flosal Woeld of
October last, has brought many inquiries for detailed
information as to its appearance, structure, and uses.
In order to comply in a way likely to be useful, I have
had a perspective view and a ground plan prepared, and herewith
present them to our readers. Though a distinct and pleasing
feature of my very small garden, it is but proper to state that
it was originally constructed solely as a screen, to shut out from
view the lower part of the garden, where experimental operations
render privacy desirable, and where, moreover, there is nothing tor
people to see. The primary object of the proceeding has been fully
secured. The frame ground and plunging beds are screened from
inquisitive eyes, and there is less interruption of the work than
was the case once upon a time. But the ruin is a real embellishment,
and it aifords sites for a large number of interesting and beautiful
plants. One effect it produces, w4ii<;h is doubtless worth mention.
It gives to the garden at the point where it is seen in its full extent,
an appearance of expanding out to a great breadth, though it is no^
wider here than anywhere else. This is owing to the number of
separate objects which present themselves in nearly an unbroken
line right across the garden, and as they are all connected and in
perfect harmony as parts of a rustic scene, the eye is pleased with
the variety and the expansion which are secured by the arrangement.
This rockery consists partly of banks faced with burrs, and
partly of artificial ruins. The entrance to the scene, at a, is by a
walk which divides right and left, leading one way to a summer-
house at c, another way to raised banks at d, and the principal walk
is also carried through the rockery, and then leads the way, u, to the
lower part of the ground, which this construction hides from view.
At E and r are parts of two large semicircles which abut upon the
front of the rockery ; at G is the bee-3hed„ the thatched roof of which
is a pleasing feature in the perspective view.
It will be observed that the principal part of the rockery is a sort
of bastion with arches. The walk down passes through the bastion,
THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
and the design of the whole is perhaps a little fanciful, and would
puzzle both military and civil architects, though there is really
nothing at all extravagant in any of the details. The bastion was
constructed with the largest burrs that could be obtained. By the
term " burrs" is meant the great blocks of half vitrified brick which
are thrown out of the kiln as useless to the builder. The demand
for these has become so great that they are expensive articles, though
but a few years since the cost of carriage was about all that was of
necessity incurred in obtaining them. The walls of the bastion are
filled in with earth, and for the guidance of any reader who should
wish to adopt a similar contrivance, I will remark that such walls
should be at least three to four feet thick, so as to enclose a large
body of earth, for plants growing on such walls will occasion very
much trouble in watering, etc., to keep them alive during hot
weather if there is but a scanty body of soil in the walls. Of
course, in the process of building, openings were left, and numerous
irregularities were produced intentionally, so as to form receptacles,
basket-like recesses, and chinks and hollows for plants. In order
that the whole body of earth in the walls should be moistened by
rain, the summits of the walls were not covered in, but were planted
with various shrubs, succulents, and other plants of kinds suit-
able for such a position, the relative dispositions of the materials of
these walls may be understood by the aid of a printer's diagram : —
Jbi
5
M
o
^^
o
o
eS
o
P3
w
f^
in which the word " rock" stands in this case for a facing of btirrs.
A few " butts," as the gardeners here term the stumps of trees,
have been worked in with good effect, and one of the prettiest eff"ects
is produced by a tuft of that noble grass Mpmis arenarkis, planted
in a large butt on the left, near the summer-house.
The banks on either side of the walls are raised from two to five
feet high, and the walks are planted with Sagina iwocumbens in the
bays and recesses, because gravel does not long preserve a sightly
appearance in such places, and the Sagina forms a green moss-like
growth. In a peaty or sandy .soil, mosses would grow freely in such
spots ; but in our heavy clay land, mosses have no beauty. All the
walks necessarily used are, of course, gravelled and well kept.
The summer-house is as much benefited by the rockery as the
experimental ground. Fov as this retreat is chiefly used by myself all
the summer long as a sanctum for literary work, its separation from
the working department is a matter of great importance, and I
enjoy the immense advantage of writing in the garden, and being at
hand to direct the work, and also to see the subjects it may be my
business to describe. I might speak also of the service rendered by
the rockery in screening the bee-shed from the upper end of the
garden; the bees always sail high up over the arches and trees, and
*> THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GtJTDE.
a stranger would scarcely discover that there were bees in the place,
especially if liot admitted beyond the front of the rockery. And I
shall now say a word as to its beauty. As I sit in the sanctum in the
midst of heaps of papers, I derive immense and untiring pleasure by
occasionally looking out at the ferns, and grasses, and succulent
plants with which the walls and banks are studded. I cannot
imagine a prettier bijou picture than is the bank d, which I have in
full view as I sit at my desk. There is a great tuft of the varie-
gated-leaved willow herb, EpUohium angustifoliiim, fol. var., which is
exquisitely beautiful, with creamy leaves and rosy purple blossoms ;
several tufts of variegated grasses, the bold orbicular leaves of
Saxifraga crassifoUum, the grandly-striped leaves of the variegated
variety of Aspidistra lurida, the silvery Artemisia argentea, and
many more of such strikingly charactered plants, the boundary be-
yond being a fifteen-feet wall of rich green privet, which brings out
the elegant lines of the grasses and the silvery and creamy lines of
the variegated plants superbly.
In the nook on the left there are numerous fine examples of
hardy ferns that have grown to great dimensions. This nook is
quite shaded, which is not the case with the banks d, and the soil
is made for ferns, and consists of "Wanstead peat and loam, chopped
up together. Here of course are great tufts of Lastrea Filix mas
and the lovely lady-fern, AtligriumFiUxfcemina, and the crested and
tasselled varieties of both. Also fine patches of common polypody,
Folypodiiim vidgare, the hart's-tongue in several forms, the beautiful
Onoclea sensihilis, which is quite hardy here; and a good selection of
British ferns of smaller growth. The horse-tails, such as Fquisetum
sylvaticum, JE. arvense, and others, add a rare and exquisite charm to
the nooks in which they grow, and, as already recorded, the back-
ground of this nook consists of bracken, which has attained to a
remarkable degree of luxuriance, and has a grand appearance,
towering up in front of the dark ruin.
Though on so small a scale, I might with perfect justice describe
this rockery as constituting a series of three distinct gardens. First,
we have on the summit and sides of the walls of the bastion
numerous succulents, and a few alpines. The position is not well
adapted for ferns, though we could keep them there by regular
watering. It is much better, however, to plant a position so that
the least possible care will be required ; at all events, our rule is
never to make work, there is too much of that already ; so we plant
things in such a way that they will, generally speaking, take care of
themselves. The mesembryanthemums are invaluable for such
work, and their free and abundant flowering give them a first claim
to consideration for positions much exposed to sun and scantily
supplied with moisture. The sunny banks on the right serve for
herbaceous plants, and a few choice trees and shrubs ; and on the
left of the bastion is the fernery. It would be wearisome to the
reader, and perhaps of but little practical service, were I to enter
into any particulars as to the details of the planting, or the various
failures and successes that haA'e occurred during the seven years
that have elapsed since the scheme was carried out. Several choice
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 7
ferns, such as Jllosonis crispus, Aspleniiun onda muraria, and
others that ought to have thriven on the face of the bastion, have
perished, which I attribute to their being dried up during long
continued hot weather, when, probably, regular watering would have
saved them. But I imagine it of the utmost importance to render
this brief description u:r:eful, that I should present as complete a list
as possible of the plants that have succeeded, and that are really
worth the attention of persons possessing similar structures, or desir-
ing to form collections of plants.
TEEES AND SHEIBS.
Bhus cotinus. — This very distinct and beautiful shrub has a fine
appearance on a bank when smothered with its brown smoke or
foam-like flowers. It should be found in every belt of mixed shrubs.
Artemisia arcjentea, A. glacial is, A. maritima, A. siberica, A. vul-
garis. — All the species of wormwoods are more or less glaucous or
silvery. The first named of these forms an elegant tree, and, as it
needs but little soil, is well adapted for the top of a wall, or any
other elevated position.
Heclera Algeriensis, H, Begneriensis, H. Canariensisfol. var., H.
digitata, H. chri/socarjia, and H. helix elegantissima, are the most
striking half dozen varieties of ivy to train over ruins ; but there are
at least fifty more varieties of ivy worthy of places in rockeries and
ruins. When planted so as to form distinct sheets of verdure they
are much more eff"ective than when allowed to riot over the walls
and arches. But in some parts of a ruin a luxurious growth of ivy is
desirable ; it is the one plant in all the world that can best crown a
buttress with befitting glory. Common Irish and common English
are the t^^o best sorts wherewith to form extensive sheets and bold
bosses where there is plenty of room for them.
Lonicera hrar.hypoda reticidaia. — This charming honeysuckle is
well adapted to train over rough walls, but it will not train itself as
ivy does, and the best way to help it is to place stout galvanized iron
wire where the creeper is required and it will twine round it. When
it reaches the summit of a rum and falls over in trailing wreaths, it
flowers freely, but, like ivy, is reluctant to flower while it has oppor-
tunities for extending itself.
Jasminum nudiflorum. — An old plant of this jasmine clothing a
wall or scrambling over a rocky ledge is a fine object in winter when
it is covered with yellow flowers,
Uosmariiius officinalis fol. var., Ruta graveolens fol. var., Santolina
rosmarini folia. — Here are three British plants that are admirably
adapted tor planting high up on exposed dry ledges and other places
where moisture-loving shrubs would soon perish. On the summit
of the bastion these are both ornamental and interesting.
Vitis hederacea fol. var. — This exquisitely beautiful vine was
planted in a pocket about five feet from the ground, and it grew
freely and made long pendant garlands, which were full of grace and
beauty ; the stems reddish and the leaves prettily mottled green and
grey.
Clematis lanuginosa^ G. ccerulea^ C. Florida^ C. vitalba. — There is
8 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
no limit to the use of clematises wherever walls are to be clothed,
whether such rough walls as these or the smooth walls of a mausion.
A few of them planted in a rich mellow soil at the foot of the bastion
have grown and flow ered finely. I find the only way to train them
neatly is to nail them as required.
(7«r<Y^rt?^rt5 of several varieties, the peculiar and j^rettj Halimo-
dcndron argeniea, the very distinct and elegant Kolreuteria panicu-
lata, are, among many trees adapted for the embellishment of such
scenes, worth especial attention. All rockeries and ruins should be
to some extent shaded with trees, not only because the shade is
desirable, but because the trees add to the dignity of the scene, and
to some extent heighten its reality, for there is nothing sham about
them however veneered the ruin may be.
HEEBACEOUS PLANTS.
PLOWEKiifG Pla:n'ts especially adapted for sunny banks and
borders, and elevated positions. Those requiring very little soil
marked thus, *. — Achillea onillefolia rosea,, A, JEgyptiaca, A. Jili-
^endula, Agrostemma coronaria,, Alyssum saxatile, large patches of
this are glorious in spring ; it likes a good depth of soil and a sunny
position. To grow it to perfection, give it a mixture of loam, coarse
pebbly sand, and broken limestone ; but it grows well in almost any
soil if not damp or shaded. Anemone Japonica, A. nemorosa. this
may be in the shade ; it is a lovely plant in spring. Aqidlegia
Skinneri,, A. ccc-ndea, A. glandulosa, A. spectahilis, all lovely, and take
care of themselves, and will flower freely whether in shade or sun-
shine. Anlirrhinum majus^ invaluable for exposed situations.
Arails albida,^ A. lucida, admirable to form large sheets in the front
of banks. Asperula odorata^ Aulirietia deltoidea, Betonica grandiflora,
Campanula caipatica, C. alpina, C. garganica, this last was planted
in a pocket in the face of the wall, and grew splendidly, forming a
sort of blue beard as it hung down in a sheet, and was almost
always in flower. C. persicifolia, this grows here four or five feet
liigh, and has a fine appearance. Many more campanulas may be
added. CJieirantlius alpimts,^ who could ignore the wallflower in
the decoration of a ruin ? Convallaria polygonata, this is the Solo-
mon's seal, a glorious plant for shady places, and it will grow in the
worst soil ever seen or heard of. Dielytra spectalilis, Dondia
epipactis^ this requires heat, and will do in a shady place with ferns.
I value it much for its greenish yellow flowers in early spring ; every
lover of choice things should have it. Dioscorea hatatus, this is the
" Chinese yam ;" it is a most elegant climber to plant among roots
of trees. JErytlircea centaurium, this almost unknow^n gem is one of
the prettiest of British plants. I have frequently brought home a few
dozen tufts of it from the Surrey hills, and now I see it in Messrs.
E. G. Henderson and Son's Herbaceous List ; they deserve a testi-
monial (in gold or diamonds) for introducing it as a nursery plant.
FunTcia grandijlora, JF. la7iceafolia, G aleoMolon luteum, Geranimn
Lancastriense, G. anemoncefoliiim, G. sanguineum, Gypsophila acuti-
folia^ Hepatica angulosa, Iberis corifolia, I. saxatile, I. Gihraltica,
my plants of these measure four or five feet over, and when in bloom
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 9
are truly wonderful ; yet how seldom are those hardy white flower-
ing plants seen in gardens ! Lathyrus latifoUus, superb to train up
over walls and arches in the full sun. Linarici cymhalaria* get a
bit of this to live on the front of a rough wall, and in due time it
will spread and become a feature in a garden, simple in the extreme
and lovely beyond description, and capable of taking care of itself
with the mere shadow of soil to live in. Lusimachia niimmularia, this
requires a body of soil, and is a gem amongst roots of trees. CEnofhera
riparia, this is a gem to plant amongst roots. PJilox alpimos, a
little gem for a ledge of rock, with a body of sandy soil to root in.
Fotcntilla fragariastrum, Primula acaulis, P. auricula, P.farinosa,
Fulmonaria Virginica, jRanuncidus alpestris, Sa^oonaria ocymoides,
slugs are very fond of this, but it is a rare beauty, ^axifraga
oppositifoJia, S. pulcliella, S. geranoides, S. cordifolia, S. liypnoides,
S. IceJandica, Silene acaulis, S. alpestris, S.petrcda, Spircea JlJipen-
dula, Statice latifolia, S. beUidifoIia, Thymus aziireus* T. lanuginosa,
T. officinalis, these are growing here in the face of the bastion, form-
ing large mats of beautiful vegetation. Trifolium incarnatuin,
Veronica spicata, V. saxatile,^ Vinca major, and V. minor, Viola
montana, V. cornuta ; the last are two gems for rockery banks.
Yariegated-leayed Plants. — AJuga reptans fol. var., Arahis
alpinafol. var., A. luridafol. var., Aira ccespitosa fol. var.,* Aspidistra
liirida fol. var., Auhrietia deltoidea fol. var., FJialaris elegantissima,*
strange to say, this moisture-loving grass grows freely on the top of
the bastion, but much more luxuriantly on one of the sunny banks.
Mr. Salter has a rosy-tinted variety of it. Cerastium tomentosum
and C. Biehersteini, Cineraria maritima, Epilolium hirsutumfol. var.,
Festuca glaucct,^ Fuchsia gracilis fol. var., Funkia ovata, F. Sieholdii,
Pulmonaria grandiflora fol. var., Spirea ulmaria fol. var. picta,
Trifolium repens fol. var., T. ruhrumpicium, Tussilago farfarafol. var.,*
Vinca major fol. elegantissa, V. major fol. reticulata, V. minor fol. var.
argentea.
Succulents. — Sempervivur,i tectorum,* S. Californica,* 8. arach-
noides,* S. montanum.* A dozen more may be added, but these
four are pre-eminently useful. Seduni acre, S. glauca, S. anacamp-
seros, S. Faharium, S. Kamtschaticum, S. Sieholdii, this is quite
hardy, but the weather and the vermin usually spoil it when out of
doors. The Sedums like a moderate depth of soil, and though
essentially rock and wall plants, will not thrive on the pittance that
suffices for Sempervivums. Umhilicus horizontalis,* this pretty
plant requires a nice deep pocket, containing about a peck of sandy
peat, and occasional watering in dry weather, but in other respects
the more fully it is exposed the more finely will it grow. Mesem-
hrijanthemum clavellatum, M. criiciatum, M. licolor, M. falsiforme,
M. fiorihundum, M. glaucescens, M. inclaudens, M. maculatum, M.
roseum, M. salmonitum, M. violaceiim, M. umhcllatum. These twelve
are distinct and fine, but five or six dozen more may be added. One
of the best purposes this rockery has served me was in providing sites
for the display of a collection comprising 125 species, the greater
part of which unfortunately have been lost through want of care.
The best way to treat mesembryanthemums, when grown on ruins and
10 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
other places where there is anything in the nature of a collection, is
to plant them out in April, and leave them to grow as thej please.
In August take small cuttings of all the sorts you have, put these
cuttings in threes or fours together in GO-sized pots, in soil consisting
of two parts sand and grit and one part loam. Keep them through
the winter in a frame or greenhouse. Do not attempt to save any
of the old plants on the rockery ; let them take their risk. Many
of them will survive the winter, but some are sure to perish. Make
good those that perish by planting from your young stock. Wher-
ever and however mesembryanthemums'are grown, the plants should
be renewed annually.
Space cannot be afforded for any further particulars of this
structure. It will be observed that in the foregoing lists hundreds
of plants that mirjlit be suitable for a rockery have had no mention.
I have sought only to enumerate such as have been grown on the
rockery figured, and there are many fine plants that I should object
to introduce to such scenes, because of some stiffness of habit, or
perhaps excessive showiness or coarseness of appearance, and so
forth. It must never be forgotten that, amongst rocks and roots,
there will always be abundance of vermin, and many fine plants are
certain to be destroyed by them. We must therefore be guided in
making selections by the relative degree of esteem in which the
plants are held by slugs, snails, and woodlice, as by ourselves.
Vigilant hunting of vermin is an essential part of the management
of such constructions, but it is well also to give first preference to
plants that common garden vermin do not care much about.
S. H.
THE AURICULA.
BY JOHN WALSH.
CHArxEE I. — Constitution, Soil, and General Teeatment.
EEJOICE to hear, on the best possible authority, that
the taste for hardy plants is fast reviving, and that
there is setting in a healthy reaction against the extra-
vagant and tawdry taste of the past fifteen or twenty
years. We shall be able to guess without difiiculty to
whom we are indebted for the direction of the public mind into
more healthy channels than it has been moving in while engaged in
horticultural recreations, but it is enough for us at present to help
on the movement, and by all the means in our power contribute to
the substitution of real beauty for mere show, of real interest of an
abiding kind for the very superficial entertainment with which the
age has been content in the domain of floriculture. I may hope that
in 1867 an essay on the Auricula will pieet with more attention
than it would have done in 1857, for then the bedding mania was at
its height, and the first appearance of the Elokal World appears
to have been attended with a brilliant success, chiefly because its
THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 11
Editor came out boldly in defence of economy, taste, and simplicity
in gardening, and found a genial response from many who began to
feel the fiishion of the day an incubus from which it was desirable
to be delivered.
I am to speak of the ihiricnla, and I shall hope to amuse those
who know all about it, and instruct those who do not. But to
instruct merely is not my object. I might succeed in proving (as
somebody did the other day) that the letters in Dr. Cumming's
name, rendered in Greek, give the number of the beast 666 ; but
people would probably strive to forget what I had taught them, at
least, I expect that sensible people would. I want to make con-
verts. I want to create a taste for auriculas where there is none
already, and I want to exalt and improve the taste where it has
already dawned and needs encouraging and feeding. I want to con-
vince our thousands of amateurs that the auricula is one of the most
glorious plants that they can make a pet of; that its beauties
transcend all their ordinary ideas of floral loveliness, and that it will
cost them but little of either money or pains to secure good collec-
tions of these jewels of indescribable lustre. " Beauty !" you
exclaim ; " say prettiness, I grant they are pretty." Yes, no doubt
you do, and if you had ever seen them as they ought to be seen,
you would say that there are few flowers worth looking at on the
same day that you have seen auriculas. Have you ever seen a
first-rate collection in the perfection of flowering ? Have you ever
seen a thoroughly good exhibition of them ? ISTow I have posed
you ; there is but one course for you to pursue, and that is to set
aside all questioning of what I say, on the ground that you are not
sufficiently acquainted with the subject to form a conclusive j udg-
ment on it. Look out, then, for opportunities to see auriculas in
their most refined forms and resplendent paintings, and confiding in
my persuasions, get together a little lot, and begin to grow them,
and in due time you shall rejoice in having discovered a new plea-
sure, which is equivalent to having discovered a new world, and
having new hours added to the round of life.
First, I shall endeavour to prove that there is nothing difficult
or costly in the cultivation of the auricula. It is one of the hardiest
plants in our English gardens. It is a native of the Alps ; it loves
fresh air, and does not flinch from frost and snow. The reason we
put them in frames in winter is to shelter them from the heavy rains
and driving winds, because we do not want to have their leaves torn,
and cannot aftbrd that a single truss of flowers should perish in the
bud through excess of moisture. But as to hardiness, I have had
them frozen root and leaf for weeks together, the whole contents of
the pots like flints, and they never appeared the worse for it.
Indeed, observation has taught me that some amount of frost is good
for thein, and the first rule for cultivation I shall offer the amateur
is, dooiH coddle them. Bear in mind from first to last that this is a
mountain flower, a brilliant of purest water, which has sparkled on
the exposed icy peak, and been washed with snow water on lolty
alpine lieights.
jSTow we come to the principal points in the routine of cultiva-
12 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
tion — the soil and the order of potting. JSTobody now indulge^ in
filthy manures for plants, so I shall not waste time in denouncing
the mixtures of rank materials that were recommended by the older
florists, and of whose ideas and practices Emmerton is a good
example. The soil for the auricula mu^t be sweet and mellow.
Experience has taught me to prepare every year materials for future
use in order to keep them till of a suitable age. Composts for cer-
tain subjects improve with age up to a certain point, and after that
point is reached, time ceases to be an improver and becomes a
destroyer. Therefore the compost heaps should be prepared in
succession, and treated in the same order. Let us begin tben with
cow-dung rotted to powder, when it has the appearance of black
mould. A heap laid up to rot, will require three years to reduce it
to this condition. The only other materials required are sound
yellow loam, clean and quite rotted leaf-soil, and silver sand free
from the brown stones which indicate the presence of iron. To one
bushel of rotted cow-dung add one peck of loam, one peck of leaf-
soil, and a half-peck of silver sand. Mix well together and break all
lumps, but do not sift the mixture. You now have a compost that
will grow the auricula to perfection. It is an admirable plan to rot
all the materials required for composts under cover, for it is quite
certain that long-continued rains wash much of the goodness out of
them. But it cannot always be done, so I advise making ridge-like
beaps and thatching them with turf-sods, as the next best plan to
keeping the materials under cover. When the compost is prepared,
keeping under cover is imperatively necessary ; it will soon be
■worthless if exposed to heavy rains.
There is an interesting question lately mooted as to the best
time to re-pot auriculas. The most experienced cultivators differ in
opinion on this question, but there can be no doubt the long-
established system of potting in autumn is the safest and the most
likely to promote a fine spring bloom. Mr. Headley has practised
potting in spring with great success ; indeed Mr. Headley grows
this flower as well as any that he has ever taken in hand, and his
success as a florist is too well known to need a panegyric. In the
event of the autumn potting being postponed to a late period of the
year, through circumstances beyond the control of the cultivator,
spring potting may be practised on the plan "better late than
never." I have seen trusses every way equal to the average best,
and which -were well placed at shows, on plants that were re-potted
in the month of Marcb immediately preceding; nevertheless, the
best trusses at shows are as a rule on plants that were potted in
autumn, and I give my vote unhesitatingly for potting at the end of
July or beginning of August, for then the plants have fully rested,
and are just rousing themselves into action again. It is rather an
interesting fact, that since spring potting came to be adopted by a
few good growers, autumn blooms have been very prevalent. If it
can be proved thafc there is any connection between the two, tlien
we derive a powerful argument in favour of autumn potting, for it
is just the most likely of all influences to prevent autumn blooming,
and promote a vigorous bloom in the season proper for auriculas.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 13
The process of pottiug sliould be performed with care. Remem-
ber that n. lodgment of water about the roots is ruin to this plant.
In its native position it grows on rocky ledges, where water cannot
lodge. The soil in which it thrives is that which consists of rocky-
debris mixed with decayed moss and herbage, and it is constantly
bathed with snow water warmed by the sunshine of the mountains,
where it shines with a lustre unknown in the plains. Large pots
are injurious ; four-inch pots will suit nine-tenths of all the plants you
have. Six-inch pots are the largest you dare allow for the largest
plant you have. Place over the hole in the pot a sound oyster-shell,
hollow side downwards. Next put in a few small nodules and pots-
herds of the size of beans or less ; next a few scraps of vegetable
fibre, such as moss or bits of turf. Now fill the pot half full with
compost, and press it in firmly. Turn out the plant and examine
the root, removing any offsets that may be formed, and taking care
to cut clean out with a sharp knife any portion of the root that is
tainted with decay. Get rid of nearly all the old soil, but do not destroy
the roots needlessly ; in fact, keep as many as you can. Any wouijds
that have been made must be dressed with charcoal dust, which will
stop the bleeding, and prevent decay. The last thing to do is to
examine the leaves and remove the green-fly, if any. The plant
must now be placed in its proper position, and the pot must be
filled up nearly to the edge rather firmly with compost. Give a
little water, and the work is done.
The next business is to make the best possible use of the off'sets,
for by these alone are the varieties multiplied. There is no diffi-
culty in raising seedlings, but to increase named varieties, the only
certain method is by ofl'sets, and some kinds will not make a single
oft^set in two or three seasons. "We shall have to discuss some
points arising out of this important matter, but for the present I
will be content to say that the ofisets had best be potted in five-inch
pots, four or five of them in each pot, and all being placed so as to
touch the pot ; being placed close to the edge all round on purpose.
The soil to be used for this potting should consist of loam, leaf-mould,
and silver-sand equal parts, without any manure.
The watering must be regulated by the weather, and the state of
the plants. In winter they grow but little, and require only as
much water as will keep them plump. They must never he dust-dry,
not even in frosty weather ; and if becoming over dry it will do them
no harm at all to administer water during frost. But unless they
really Avant it do not give it. When they begin to grow in Febru-
ary, they must be top-dressed. First remove about half an inch of
soil from the pot, and fill up with a mixture of one half decayed
sheep-droppings and the other half clean leaf-mould : press this in
firmly, and give water to complete the task. Always use rain water
if possible ; but where it cannot be had, make it a practice to put
two or three drops of hartshorn into every can of water drawn for
auriculas.
In every stage of growth care must be taken to prevent lodg-
ments of water in the hearts of the plants. In fact, stagnant water is
death to them at any season and under any circumstances ; to pre-
14 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
vent accidents let common care and prudence be exercised, nothing
more is required.
Though the plant is one of the hardiest in our gardens, I am no
advocate for exposing it at any time to the full influence of the weather
in this climate. One good heavy rain may induce canker in the
greater part of a collection, and in dry weather our atmosphere is
too arid for them, whereas when in frames there is always a certain
degree of atmospheric humidity to assist them. I jJtlvise, therefore,
to keep them in frames the whole year round, giving always plenty
of air; they are then fully under our control, and if we are wise and
watchful we shall have no losses. Mr. Hibberd, in his " Garden
Pavourites," has recommended putting them out on a hard bottom
immediately after blooming; I should like to know if he follows that
plan still, and if he has the same amount of confidence in it as ever.
So careful a cultivator must, I am sure, see the superiority of the
covered system of treating these plants, provided it is followed out
with every other needful consideration for their welfare.
SUB-TEOPICAL PLANTS THAT MAY BE GEOWN FROM
SEEDS.
BY KAEL PEOSPEE.
IJONTINUING my notes for " The Choice Garden," I
would now direct attention to the surest and simplest way
of raising a number of the most remarkable plants of
those kinds which in England are termed "sub-tropicals,"
which do indeed come from warmer climates, and which
are valued for their noble characters and great distinctness from every-
thing that we possess amongst old-fashioned plants. The English gar-
deners give to Mr. Gibson, of Battersea Park, great praise for the ad-
mirable series of experiments he has conducted during several years
past, to test the possibilities of the English climate in the out-door
cultivation of such subjects as the indiarubber tree, the brilliant Ei\y-
tlirina crista-galli, the Aralia papyrifera, and A. Sieholdii, the Solanum
of many species, the palms, ferns, and grasses of the comparatively-
temperate parts bordering on the tropics, I have seen Mr. Gibson's
work, and I must say that in the latter part of the summer the
" sub-tropical garden" at Battersea Park presents such a gorgeous
spectacle as there is nothing else to equal in all the great gardens I
have visited since I have resided in this country, and I should add
that I have seen nearly all the celebrated gardens both here and on
the Continent. And because I have seen I will make bold to say
that the French are the real authors of this practice. The French
have elaborated the system, and Paris has been annually the scene
of such wonderful displays of luxuriant vegetation of kinds very dis-
tinct from the established round of greenhouse and stove plants, that
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 15
I will say that vre should never name this subject without giving the
gardeners of Paris their full due. I could say somethiug more about
English practices that originated in France, and were simply im-
ported, but it is enough now that I should remind the reader that this
practice is not English born, though the English have had to adapt
it to their climate and other circumstances.
One of the most important families from which to select plants
remarkable for their fine foliage is the Solanum. Here we have
huge palmate, bold angled, densely pubescent leaves, variously
coloured with silvery or rosy veins, with silvery or purple stalks, the
plants presenting magnificent outlines, and rendering a wonderful
diversification of the ordinary aspects of the English tlower garden.
The seeds of the Solanums should be sown in heat in January, and
should be grown on under glass till June, and then be planted out
for the season. It is best, as a rule, to allow them to perish in the
beds, and raise a fresh supply from seeds, for they are not worth
taking up for the winter.
SOLANUMS.
8. (jiganteum, a shrubby species, with spinous leaves, and much
silvery tomentum on the under side. Grows well in the open
ground, and if grown freely in the early part of the season it bears
scarlet berries.
S. aiiriculatum. — A strong-growing shrub, with large, handsome
leaves and violet flowers, which are scarcely perceptible. It grows
freely, and is highly ornamental.
S. marginatum. — A splendid species, the young leaves of which are
quite frosted ; w^hen older the leaves are greenish white. AVhen
planted in a mass it is peculiarly rich and pleasing.
^S*. ariiazonicum. — A fine species of rather small growth, the
leaves bronzed on the upper side, and silvery on the under side.
The flowers are large and handsome, and are abundantly produced
in the open air.
S. robustum. — This is unquestionably the finest of all ; the leaves
are large, and quite covered with cinnamon brown spines. A single
plant makes a good show in a mixed bed or border, but clumps of
half a dozen each have the best effect.
S. pyracantha. — Yery elegant pinnate leaves with orange-coloured
midrib, and fiery red spines. The flowers are bright blue. It
grows well when planted out, and is one of the most striking of
sub-tropical plants in cultivation.
I select the foregoing six as likely to suffice for the majority of
amateurs, and they can all be raised from seed easily procurable from
any first-class seedsman. The seeds should be sown two inches
apart, in shallow pans filled with a mixture consisting of equal parts
light loam and leaf-mould, w^ith some slight addition of silver
sand to keep the soil porous. The seed pans must be placed in
a steady heat of 70', and the soil be kept moderately moist. When
the plants appear, give water cautiously to prevent any excess, and
occasionally sprinkle on the soil amongst them a pinch of quite dry
silver sand. "When they begin to grow freely, regular watering and
16 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN G-UIDE.
keeping near the glass will be all they will require, until they begin
to crowd one another, when they must be potted singly into four-
inch pots in a mixture of equal parts loam, leaf-mould, and quite
rotten manure. Grrow them until the middle of May, then gradually
harden them in frames, and plant out in the first week in June.
NICOTIANA.
iV. Wigandioides. — This is the finest of all the species of tobacco
grown in our gardens, attaining the height of six to ten feet, with
leaves over two feet long and one foot wide. The young leaves are
beautifully silvered ; the flowers are dull dirty white.
N. glauca. — A grand tree form of tobacco, and a very striking
object when planted out in a mixed border, or as a single tree on a
lawn. The leaves are highly glaucous, and the flowers of a greenish
yellow colour. It requires a deep rich soil.
N. Havanensis. — This is the true Havannah tobacco, and may
be interesting to many cultivators, but it is less ornamental than
the two previously described. The whole plant is downy and sticky ;
the flowers are rose colour.
N. Marijlandica, — A fine strong-growing kind, handsome and
efiective, with bright rosy flowers.
There are many species of tobacco in cultivation, and the favourite
for many years has been N. Virffiniana. This certainly is well
worth a place in the garden, and is especially well adapted for
planting on bauks and rockeries. But I have named four especially
because of their noble characters and the possibility of growing^
them in the open ground has but lately been proved. These need
not be sown till the first week in February, and they require less
heat than advised for the Solanums ; 60' will be sufiicient for the
seed pans. But if it is desired to have fiue examples for planting,
and there are conveniences for growing them on to some size under
glass, they may be sown at once in the same manner as advised for
the Solanums.
CANIS-AS.
These noble plants deserve all the popularity they have acquired.^
They are particularly well adapted for sheltered spots, because if
exposed to wind their leaves are torn. Here we have forms that are
truly tropical, and colours rich and deep, sucl^ as scarcely any other
plants present us either in leaf or flower. A rich deep soil is essen-
tial to their well doing, and they may have water in any quantity
from the middle of June to the middle of August. They make a -
good effect if mixed with gladioli, for these last are deficient of/
leafage which the cannas compensate admirably. The seeds shoiild
be sown early in the year, and be placed in a heat of 70' to 80\
Some growers plunge them in water at 150' or higher for about
twenty-four hours, but I have always succeeded in getting the seed
to germinate without putting myself to so much trouble. _ It is much
easier for amateurs to raise them from seed than to multiply them by
off'sets. The latter should be separated in April and be carefully
potted in light sandy soil, and be placed on a heat of 70' to start
THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN ariDE. 17
them. Shade them at first, but by degrees give them more and more
air and have them strong to plant out in June.
C. Annei — Leaves green and glaucous, flowers orange yellow ;
one of the best.
G. Feruvlana. — Grreen leaves and purple base, gigantic growth,
commonly attaining a height of seven feet. Flowers, scarlet rose.
One of the best both in respect of leaves and flowers.
C. mitscefolia hijbrida. — Leaves green, of great breadth ; flowers
scarlet, A most noble habited and free-growing variety.
C. limhata. — The hardiest of the green-leaved section, grows six
or more feet high, flowers scarlet and yellow. A large bed of this
has been left out five successive winters at Battersea Park. The bed
is covered during winter with two feet depth of straw. Every
amateur who grows Cannas should have it.
C.floribunda. — A beautiful dwarf green-leaved kind, growing
only two and a half feet high, flowers deep rose colour. This makes
a beautiful edging to beds filled with the larger kinds.
C. nigrescens. — Purple leaved and the darkest of all, flowers pur-
plish red. A grand variety for contrast.
C. lAervalli. — Purple leaves and purple scarlet flowers. Most
magnificent.
C. zebrina. — A hardy purple leaved variety, flowers vivid rose
colour. This may be left out all winter if covered with straw, and is
a good companion plant to C. limbata.
C. Warsceificzii. — Purple leaves and red flowers ; the plant grows
two and a half feet high, and is a good companion to C. floribunda,
for edgings to large masses.
C. raetalUca. — Purple leaves which are finely veined, flowers
scarlet. A truly grand variety.
Unless the amateur have a most intensified love of Cannas, the
above will fully sufiice, and they are the best out of some hundreds
that I have seen and grown both here and on the Continent.
01^ PLANTING STEAWBERRIES.
BY J. DE JONGHE.
jOME advise strawberries to be planted in the end of
August, or in September, or, better still, between the
1st and loth of October ; others prefer the months of
March or April. Those who advocate the former
period say that the plants put out in the end of
summer or beginning of autumn have time to establish themselves
in the soil before winter, and to gain sufficient strength to bear a
crop in the following summer.* This reasoning, it must be admitted,
appears plausible. The success of plantations made at tins season
depends, however, in a great measure, on the soil being well worked,
and in proper condition as regards moisture ; on the plants being
sufficiently strong and furnished with good roots, and on their being
carefuUy transplanted. I agree with the opinion of those who
VOL. II. — NO. I. 2
18 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
prefer spring planting. Por more than a quarter of a century I
have planted at all seasons, but the spring plantations have always
proved the best. The cause of this success lies in the following facts.
The plants established round the stools since last summer, with-
out being detached from their parent plant, will be found much
stronger after winter than those that have iDeen separated before
winter, either for planting out in nursing beds, or at once in the
plantation. When carefully taken up with all their fibres in spring,
they soon take root, and grow vigorously in well-prepared newly-
dug ground ; and in June or July they produce as much fruit as those
that have been detached in a young state and planted before winter.
On taking up some young strawberry plants it will be observed
that the very slender fibrous roots extend obliquely in the soil in all
directions round the parent plant. From this fact the cultivator
should infer that in transplanting he ought to extend the roots in a
similar oblique direction, covering them successively with soil up to
the necks of the plants. On examining these a fortnight after, it
will be found that new spongioles have been formed all along the
roots, a circumstance which shows the utility of preserving all the
fibres when taking up the plants.
Every cultivator must be aware that strawberries push roots
more than a foot into the ground, provided it is deep, and rendered
loose and permeable by manures suitable to the nature of the soil.
They extend obliquely more than a foot and a half in all directions
round the plant. If they are planted so closely that the roots
entangle each other in struggling to obtain nourishment, it may be
easily conceived that the produce must in consequence be diminished,
not only in the first, but also in the second, and more especially in
the third year after planting. Ey some this is ascribed to the plants
being exhausted ; but this is an error arising from mistaking the
efiect for the cause. It would be more reasonable to say that the
elements of nutrition in the soil become insufiicient for the demand.
These observations show the necessity of planting widely ajDart, so
as to prevent the roots of strawberries and other plants from coming
in contact with each other if we wish to obtain fine produce.
Those who plant exclusively with a view to crop, and to obtain
the fruit in full perfection, cut off the runners in spring and summer
as they are produced. The fewer runners a variety of strawberry
throws out, the easier the plantation is kept in order. A variety
naturally disposed to make few runners is preferred to those that
produce many, if in other respects it possesses equal merit, a
property which is becoming more and more appreciated by con-
noiseurs. The limited production of runners is considered a fault of
La Constante ; and this is a reproach thrown on this strawberry
which is even not well founded ; for if planted in good soil, neither
too dry, nor too stiff, cold, and wet, if produces runners sufiiciently
well. A dozen young plants which were planted out in April, 1862,
furnished by October 127 plants, which was at the rate of more than
1000 per cent. The circumstance of this variety not producing
a superabundance of runners is considered one ^of its meritorious
characters by the most intelligent cultivators.
19
SEA-KALE : ITS CULTUEE, WITH EEMAEKS ON
EOECINa IT.
ET JOHN r. m'eLEOT.
[HIS delicious vegetable is very tempting to the epi-
cure, as displayed in the windows of greengrocers'
shops, in the clean punnets wrapped in fine paper, at
this dreary season of the year. With the old school
of gardeners (such is the term used when alluding to
the senior members of our fraternity, which no doubt will be repeated
iu succeeding ages as in the past) tradition was everything in direct-
ing or controlling their operations. Certain days were assigned for
sowing or planting — as a fixed rule, such being often in connection
with certain club feasts, fairs, or similar festivals. However, thanks
to the advocates of education, traditional usages are fast declining,
and we are guided by reason and common sense. Yet withal some
of these customs still cling to us ; for instance, striving to grow so
as to cut a cucumber by Easter Sunday. That is where we have
no other convenience beyond the old-fashion hot manure beds.
Then again, that of being able to supply a dish of forced sea-kale
for the family dinner on Christmas- day. !N'ow there are various
ways of forcing this vegetable. Some gardeners, where they have a
good extent of ground at their command for growing vegetables,
dig up the roots, place them thickly in deep rows, and cover them
with just sufficient litter to ensure their being blanched as they
grow ; then put them in the forcing-house. Others plant them in
pits or other conveniences they may have, which affords them the
means of applying such warmth as they may need ; but the most
general practice among gardeners who are minus of all other means,
is to cover the crowns as they remain on the beds, with what are
termed " sea-kale pots ;" in fact, any kind of pot is suitable that
has sufficient depth or breadth ; but the former are the most con-
venient, because they are provided with lids, affording greater
facility for cutting and examining the sea-kale. There is also
another mode resorted to, and that is to have long boxes, or troughs,
constructed of three wide planks, one on each side, and the top
being cut in smaller lengths, and fixed with hinges, so as to form a
series of trap-doors. This kind of protection forms a continuous
line along the rows. Previous to covering, clear away all decayed
leaves or anything else that will harbour slugs or other destructive
vermin. Then get some fine ashes, and place in and among the
crowns. This will preserve them from decay to some extent, as well
as counteract the evil effects of slugs or snails. The next considera-
tion is, what is the best material for covering the pots, etc., etc., so
as to excite their growth. I prefer leaves previous to Christmas
rather than stable manure, not only as a matter of economy, but
because I have found them to maintain their warmth for a greater
length of time. Their temperature is not so easily checked by the
20 THE TLOEAL WOELD AND GAKDEN GUIDE.
late cold autumn rains. In the earlier months of the year their
fermenting action is assisted by the addition of some hot manure.
That YOU may be enabled to cut a dish of sea-kale for Christmas- day
by the latter method you should commence adding the fermented
materials about five weeks previous. Do not put it all on at once,
but add it at intervals, allowing a fortnight to elapse for the final
covering; care being taken that it does not get too much heated, or
the result will be long spindling stalks, instead of short, plump,
tempting produce. Although it is very difficult at this season to
obtain those thick, short stalks, such as we cut in the spring,
it is useless to attempt to hasten their vegetation if they are not well
established in the soil.
We will now proceed to consider the best plan of rearing and
cultivating this root. The system pursued by myself for many
years past, and which has been attended with success, is to prepare
beds six or more feet in width. There must be a trench cut on
either side sufficient to give a natural drainage to the bed, the soil
from the trench being added to the bed, thus giving it an elevated
position above the common level of the garden. I prefer a light
sandy or porous soil to one of a more adhesive texture, although I
have cut remarkably fine sea-kale from plants growing in a clayey
soil. Having finished the preparation of the bed, I sow the seed in
very wide drills, about two feet apart, during the first fortnight in
March. As birds, especially the thrush and blackbird, are very
destructive to the seedlings as soon as they appear above ground,
every precaution should be used to guard against their depredations.
When they are strong enough, thin them, leaving them in patches of
five plants, the said patches corresponding in distance with the
width of the rows, or you may leave them growdng the whole
length of the row, or in such way as you may deem expedient for
your future culture. By using the hoe frequently during the
summer among them, so as to destroy weeds, and keep the surface
soil stirred, and placing some dry litter over their crowns before
they have shown signs of growing in the spring, I have cut as fine
a head of kale as could possibly be desired in the latter part of
April and beginning of May of the succeeding year of their being
sown. By adopting the above plan, and sowing a bed every year,
you may always ensure vigorous plants. In cutting the heads for
table always cut them off" level with the surface of the soil. This
mode of operation is a great preventive of canker, and it also
keeps the crown dwarf and compact.
21
CULTURE OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM IN POTS EOR
EXHIBITION.
BT BOBEET OUBEIDGE OP STOKE NEWIIf&TOK.
N" the cultivation and propagation of large-flowered
varieties as specimen plants on single stems in eleven-
inch pots for exhibition, my practice is as follows : —
As soon in November as suckers are sufficiently
strong, I select the one which is most vigorous from a
healthy plant, and remove all eyes with a sharp knife so as to pre-
vent the plants from producing suckers till they have completed
their flowering season. I then insert in a three-inch pot each
sucker singly, using the following compost : — A little rotten dung
and some nice mellow loam, with a good sprinkling of sharp silver
sand, draining the pots with small clean crocks. They are then
placed in a cold frame or on the shelf of a greenhouse, where no
cold draughts can affect them while rooting.
If in the latter part of December you find that they are becom-
ing established, admit plenty of air when the weather is mild, in
order to prevent weakly growth, and thus cause the plants to be
short-jointed. In January choose the strongest of those plants
that are well rooted, and pot them into large sized or five-inch pots in
the compost just mentioned, and encourage growth as much as the
season will permit, but take care that the vigour and sturdiness of the
plant are in proportion to its growth. One point in growing plants
for exhibition I would impress upon beginners, and that is, do not
subject them to bottom or top-heat with the view of pushing on
their growth ; if frost is just excluded that is enough. By the
middle of February, if all has gone on well, the plants will be suffi-
ciently strong to be stopped ; the number of breaks or shoots you
desire to insure must depend on the vigour of your plants (and
here the operator must use his own judgment), but I would advise
from six to seven eyes to be left ; should more be allowed to remain
the chances are that the lower eyes will not emit shoots, or if they
do they will break weakly. Remember that in proportion to the
attention bestowed on training in the earlier stages of growth, so
will be the result as regards future growth and perfection of flowers.
Some varieties of chrysanthemum diff'er from others in constitution,
a knowledge of which can only be acquired by close observation ;
some, for instance, will bear several degrees of frost with impunity,
while others will not stand frost at all. The wisest plan is,
however, not to subject them to it. When giving air observe the
quarter from whicJi the wind blows, as an easterly or north-
easterly wind, if allowed to have free access to the plants, will prove
injurious.
If in March you find that the plants have emitted shoots freely
from all the eyes you left at the period of stopping, you may at
once repot them into 32-size pots, but do not do so unless they have
pushed shoots regularly from every eye ; sometimes the lower eyes
22 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
will not break so early as the upper ones, therefore in order to
induce a uniform emission of shoots, have recourse to the simple
plan of gently bending the heads of the stem downwards, fixing it
in that position by means of a peg, returning it to its original posi-
tion as soon as your object is attained. The plants will require the
protection of glass till the middle of May, but remove the lights on
all favourable occasions previous to that time, or you will not insiA'e
robust growth, and no after treatment will make up for this neglect.
In potting at this season use a small quantity of mellow cow- dung,
but as worms generate abundantly in this manure they should be
carefully picked out before incorporating it with the rest of the
compost. Should mildew make its appearance slightly dust with
powdered sulphur. Green-fly should also be watched for; it feeds
greedily on the new or sappy portion of the wood, and sadly cripples
the progress of the plants if not speedily destroyed by fumigating
with tobacco. *
In April, if previous directions have been attended to, the plants
will be assuming a bushy habit and daily exciting interest. The
way in which they are to be trained must therefore now engage
attention ; for on this no mean portion of the beauty of a speci-
men depends, and in order that you may the better preserve your
plants in good condition. As regards foliage, do not let them sufier
from drought, but on the other hand do not water too copiously ;
both extremes soon change the colour of the foliage from green to
yellow, and decayed leaves are the result. In training for the first
fix a stick in the main stem ; to this loop your side shoots, and then
proceed to bend some of them, down to the edge of the pot ; this
had better be done gradually at two or three diff'erent times, as thej
require to be tenderly handled, the young wood at this stage being
brittle and apt to snap. When you have completed this operation,
and your plants are thoroughly rooted in the pots they now occupy,
you may stop all or such shoots as you may consider to require it ;
the length at which they are to be left must be in proportion to
their strength. Do not let the plants be cramped for want of
top-room, or they will become spindling and long-jointed. On
fine mornings they may now be syringed with clean water; this
will free the foliage from any dirt that may have settled on ; but
take care that your plants are perfectly dry before you shut them up
for the night, for fear frost should find its way to them.
As soon in May as you discover the break caused by the last
stopping, shift into eight-inch pots, selecting for the purpose the
healthiest and strongest of your plants. For this potting let your
soil consist of as much turfy loam as possible; mix it with the for-
merly-mentioned ingredients, also pound a quantity of oyster shells
and mix them with the soil ; they w^ill assist in keeping it porous,
and supply food to the plants, as they contain a good deal of the
superphosphate of lime ; likewise use a little charcoal in your
drainage — it helps to preserve the foliage in a healthy green state.
After potting, if the weather will permit, you may move the plants
from under glass to a sheltered spot in the garden ; towards the
latter end of the month shift them to a more exposed situation ; but
THE FLOEAL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 23
in doing this be sure you place a slate or something of the kind
under the pots to prevent worms from entering it ; for should they
gain admission they would destroy the activity of the soil by clog-
ging up the drainage.
In June, the plants, if properly treated, will be growing fast ;
stop them again if their strength will allow of it ; place them
at such a distance apart as will admit of a free circulation of air
all round them ; keep them constantly turned so as to prevent one-
sidedness of growth ; I aim at training the plants in the form of a
pyramid. As June is generally a very hot month, drop the pots in
w^liich the plants are growing into one a size larger ; that will check
the rapid evaporation which otherwise would take place from the
soil. The chrysanthemum being a gross feeder and fond of plenty
of moisture, on no account let it suffer for want of it, or else you
will mar the beauty of your plants ; in very hot weather let the
ground round them be watered with a fine rose, by which means a
genial moisture will ascend and refresh the plants. Ton may also
syringe them night and morning, which will prevent the attack of
thrip ; attend as hitherto to training, in order to prevent the shoots
from becoming overcrowded.
The month of July having arrived, finally sbift into eleven-inch
pots ; use a small quantity of sharp sandy grit with the soil this
time, and add also strong rich manure with other stimulants that may
afl'ord a vigorous growth. When the plants have been some time
inured to their final shift, and the roots begun to expose them-
selves on the surface of the pots, supply manure water. During the
hot season I use cow manure for mixing with the water on account
of its cooling and nourishing properties ; and in autumn sheep's
dung and soot, which possess very stimulating powers, producing,
when used judiciously, healthy and beautifully robust growth.
August. — This is generally a very hot month. Take care the
plants do not flag for want of water, examine them twice a day at
least ; also attend to the training of the shoots to prevent crowding.
September. — This month is more favourable to the generation of
sap than any month of the year, on account of the warm humid
atmosphere which prevails ; and that growth made at this may be
encouraged, supply the plants liberally with manure- water as pre-
viously recommended.
It will now be time to select the late-flowering varieties and
place them under a south wall, as that will forward their flowering.
Eut look sharply after earwigs, which now make their appearance
and commence the work of destruction among the points of the
shoots : use every means in your power for their extirpation : you
will best discover them after dark by searching for them with a
lighted candle or bull's-eye lantern. "When the flower-buds appear
only let each lateral shoot mature a well-formed bud ; remove the
remainder. If the early-flowering sorts are likely to be too forward,
do not place them under glass till the weather compels you, but
form a temporary shelter for them from slight frost and rain. It
should not be a south aspect.
24
SPRING FLOAVEKS FOE WINDOWS, GREENHOUSES,
AND CHOICE FLOWER BEDS.
|T is satisfactory to notice what a growing taste there is in London for
exterior -window-gardening ; in fact, no one can pass through the most
fashionahle districts of the great metropolis, with his eyes alive to note
wliat of horticultural interest meets tlie line of sight, without being
struck with the rapidly-developing taste for ornamental window-boxes
of tlie newest and choicest designs. To keep these gay and attractive is a very easy
matter during the summer months, but to attain tliis much-desired result during
the winter and spring months is not so easy, if a judgment be drawn from what is
easily to be observed. A dreary-looking and stunted Aucuba or two, or a Box
plant in a like flourishing condition, unable to draw any subsistence from the dry
and ofttimes starved soil about their roots, literally to them
" a wretched land,
That yields them no supplies."
for frequently water is supposed not to be needed during the winter and early spring
months, albeit a I'apid evaporation is constantly taking place.
Sometimes a result not much more valuable is attained by filling the boxes early
in March, when nipping and husky east winds prevail, with spring-flowering bulbs
from the forcing house. The consequence can easily be surmised — blighted plants,
attenuated flowers, and a thorough disappointment. In one fashionable square I
saw, in Marcli of the present year, the tenants of three or four boxes in just such a
pitiable plight ; rude winds have no sympathy with or mercy for weakly constitu-
tions in the department of the horticulturist.
Window boxes can be made very gay indeed in the early part of the year, pro-
vided the bulbs are planted in the boxes at the outset, and so become inured to all the
vicissitudes of the uncertain early spring-time. Hyacinths, Kaicissi, Tulips, Crocuses,
Snowdrops, Scillas, and Aconites can be grouped together, and a long succession of
blojm secured. I have always found pieces of turf, used to the depth of three
inches, a capital drainage for window boxes; and on these should be placed a soil
well enriched with rotted manure, and rendered friable by the use of sand. Com-
mon road-sand is easily got, and " the plants delight in it," to borrov/ a stock phrase
from the fat catalogues.
Plenty of bulbs should be used ; they require but little root-room, and will
make growth, however thickly they may be quartered together. Hyacinths and
the Polyanthus Narcissi can be planted low down, almost on the turf drainage.
Tulips should form a stratum above these, planted in the angles of the larger bulbs ;
a higher formation can be composed of Crocuses, Scillas, Snowdrops, and Aconites.
These last should be about an inch beneath the surface of the soil, and that again
one inch beneath the level of the edges of the box : water freely, and finally cover
the whole with a coating of coal-ashes, forming a kind of sloping roof to throw off
the rain, and to serve as a protection from frost. As soon as the shoots begin
to penetrate the coal-ashes, they can be removed ; no rigour of weather will prevent
their giving forth the beautiful flowers looked for ; for (to use another stock phrase)
*' their well-being is less dependent upon the mysteries of the gardening art than
that of almost any other class of plants in cultivation." Mysteries of the gardening
art ! Alas for fat catalogues, is gardening involved in mysteries ? Well enough it
might be, where these are appreciated.
I neither like moss nor cocoa-fibre as a covering for boxes planted in this
manner. They hold too much damp. I have tried both, and fall back upon the
friendly and simple coal-ashes. Plants, when used among bulbs — in a box, for
instance, where crowding cannot be avoided — are often injurious to the latter,
because of their retention of moisture beneath their foliage. There will be plenty
of foliage from the bulbs themselves to relieve the colour of the flowers, if foliage
be required for that purpose.
Then for conservatory decoration, how easily are Tulips and the beautiful
varieties of Narcissus grown ! The former particularly, as they are the most showy
of the spring-flowering bulbs, and can be retained in bloom for a long time. A
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 25
grower in the midland districts, famous for the display of Tulips made in the con-
servatory from the middle of December till May, prolongs the bloom of his flowers
by carefully tying a piece of silk round each flower just as it reaches its full size,
using a colour similar to that of the flowers. Plenty of manure from a spent hotbed,
mixed with loam, leaf-soil, and sand, forms an excellent compost for Tulips. Three
hulbs in a 32-pot are enough, space and display alike considered. Weak liquid
manure, or diluted guano-water, can be advantageously administered as the flowers
show colour, aiid till they arc Avell developed. The plants like plenty of moisture,
provided good drainage is secured.
Nai'cissi are the most accommodating things for spring use ; under the most
adverse circumstances they will flower. They make but little root, and are content
with a small space. Yet to do them well they should be liberally treated. "Varieties
like Florence Nightingale, Lord Canning, and others, will produce fifteen and twenty
flowers on a truss under moderately liberal treatment. They are most eff'ective for
grouping in the conservatory, and the delicious fngrance they exhale makes them
the more valuable. The following varieties are fine and distinct : — Gloriosa. large
pure white, with orange cup, rou»;h on the edge, yet one of the best ; Grand Prime,
pale lemon, with gold cup ; also the white variety of Grand Primo, with bright
yellow cup, large and fine ; Florence Nightingale, white, with orange cup ; Bazelman
Major, large white flowers, with deep gold cup, one of the best, differing from the
white Grand Primo only in the deeper colour of the cup ; Sulpluirine, pale lemon,
with gold cup ; Lord Canning, lemon, with deep golden cups, larger than the fore-
going ; Bathurst, pure white, with bright orange cup, very good and showy ; and
Sir Isaac Newton, pale yellow, with deep golden cup, more showy than the majority
of flowers of this ground colour. These are all well worthy cultivation.
The following twelve early single Tulips comprise the very best sorts for pot
culture : — Self-colours : White Pottebakker ; Prosperine, silken rose ; Van Vondel,
silken crimson, sometimes streaked with white, very fine ; Vermilion Brillant, rich
vermilion ; Van dsr Neer, purplish violet, fine ; and Yellow Prince. Edged flowers :
Keizer's Kroon, bright red, edged with yellow, very fine ; Rose Griseldine, rose
pink and white, very fine. Striped and flaked flowers : Cramoisie Royale, rosy
red and white; Roi Pepin, pure wliite with crimson flakes, very fine ; Fabiola, rosy
violet and white; and Queen Victoria, pure white, pencilled and tinged with
crimson. Other sorts can also be selected from the list of kinds adapted for bedding,
given at page 1022.
Finally, plant early ; some sorts keep well, others very badly. Plant not later
than the end of November certainly for beds ; for pots plant by the end of October
or early in November. — Gardener's Chronicle,
WINTEE PEOPAGATION OF EOSES.
UT we are most concerned now about the autumn propagation, and
I have yet a good practical note to make, and it is for the
special benefit of people who cannot now make up their beds and
frames of cuttings, but who mayhap must wait till November or
December to set a few cuttings going. I have remarked above that
after October, cuttings in the open ground have a lessening prospect— or, if you
prefer the term, a vanishing perspective of success— and every day's delay will tend
to diminish the total number of those that will ultimately make roots. It is a dis-
coverv on which I set some value, that if late cuttings are heeled into a bed of
cocoa-nut fibre refuse in a /rame or under a stage, or anywhere in the enjoyment of
shelter, with a little atmospheric moisture to prevent shrivelling, they make a callus
by about the end of February, and may then be potted separately, and be plunged
in a cocoa-nut fibre bed in a frame, or may actually be plunged in the open ground ;
or they may be pushed with bottom-heat to make roots and growth at once. The
ra^iowaZe of this proceeding is not occult. The cocoa-nut fibre has a preservative
value : it afi'ords no encouragement to mildew, it prevents damping almost as ett^ec-
tually as dry peat-dust or silver-sand, provided it is only reasonably moist ; it mam-
tains a nearly uniform temperature, or, at all events, does not vary in temperature
26 THE FLORAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
with every variation of the surrounding atmosphere ; and for some reason that I
don't pretend to understand, it will coax almost any kind of cuttings or leaves to
make roots ; it is wonderful in that respect, though so little able to feed roots when
they are formed. But no matter about the philosophy of the thing. In respect of
rose cuttings it is as I say, and I commend this bit of practice to those who wish to
multiply their roses ia tlie safest and cheapest way. — Gardener^s Magazine.
A BIT OP GOSSIP 01s HEEBACEOUS PLANTS.
BEG to tender my best thanks to the Editor of the Floral Wokld for
the publication of my list of plants in the November number, and the
remarks thereto appended ; and seeing that my communication some-
Avhat clashed with an editorial notice in a former number, I must say
that the course taken has been manly and straightforward, such as is
not often met with in journalism. Let me assure the Editor that the publication of
the herbaceous lists in the Floral World has been duly appreciated, and before the
November number had come to hand I had several letters anent the list I forwarded,
and perhaps it may be as satisfactory for you to hear as it is for me to know, that
my little garden is already less by some hundreds of plants than it was a short
time since.
Another thing I am sure the public with myself will appreciate, is that the pub-
lishing of the lisc brought forward the O'Shane's v^hole 100 instead of the 50. I
find also the O'Shane's list and my own are distinct, v/ith the exception of about
fifteen plants. So in the two lists the public have the choice of l85 plants set
before them, and may I be allowed to state that both my letter and my list were
written rather impulsively, and could I but spare a little time in my tJiinking house
I could amend my list very considerably, if not make cut a new and a better 100
altogether. And now for the remarks appended to my list, for which I feel more
thankful than otherwise ; and as they seem of an interrogatory nature, I have much
pleasure in answering them, if it is only to acknowledge defeat.
In the first place I am afraid the pretty plant, Achillea ptarmica plena has not
been tlioroughly comprehended, as vou call it coarse and handsome. The plant is
anything but coarse. Neat, deep green small foliage, abundance of double snow-
white flowers, about eighteen inches or so high, hardy as a nettle, and British, but
the plant is an unfortunate one for comparison, as it appears in the O'Shane's list as
" Ptarmica vulgaris flore plena," it certainly must be as coarse in one place as
another.
Admitted that Spirea Japonica will do better in a frame than otherwise, but the
plant is nevertheless decidedly hardy, but owing to its precocious habits, late spring
frost will sometimes injure it. It is worth growing for its leaves, equal to any
fern. Papaver involucrata maxima is probably a variety of P. bracteata. P.
bracteata, however, seldom ripens seed with me, while involucrata seeds abundantly.
However, it is a most gorgeous flower, a perfect circle of fire. The lobelias I men-
tioned are perfectly hardy with me, and I surely do keep them in the herbaceous
border. Lolelia fulgens will sometimes die off in a very wet winter, or rather after
a wet winter, when dry weather sets in. I believe the plant would live in water.
The variety Victoria is more hardy and robust than the type. A plant of it was
stolen from a gentleman's garden at Eainhill, which was valued at £2, and must
have stood there for years. With me L. syphilitica is as hardy as a cabbage.
Symphiandria pendula is a genus of De Candolle, described in "Don's Directory,"
vol. iii.
The spelling of Dielytron as Dyclytron may afcer all be erroneous. I had it
as Dyclytron from one whom you have acknowledged more than once as an autho-
rity on these matters. You will probably have aline or two from him soon (I mean
Mn Thompson, of Ipswich), and his authority was the founder of the genus
(Boerkhausen), who founded it on dis, two, and klytron, a spur, but it appears there
is no such word in the Greek as klytron.
Yucca filamentosa must certainly be an herbaceous plant ; it flowers and dies
down, and has in fact less timber in its composition than Iberis sempervirens, or
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 27
Alyssum saxatile. The latter plant was omitted from my 100 because tlie list was
up before I came upon it. The variety compacta of this plant is charming. If the
omission of the commou sort saxatile it a cause of having the laugh turned against
me, all I can say is that 1 have omitted better things, andean with all good humour
laugh back again. J. Williams.
Bath Lodge, Ormskirk.
HAEDT HERBACEOUS PLANTS.
THE O'SHAXE TO ME. WILLIAMS, OP OEMSKIEK.
51 ITH my final list of herbaceous plants, prepared for the '^ Gardener's
Magazine," there certainly was more pains taken than with any selec-
tion of plants ever given in the literature of horticulture. Tlierefore,
since Mr. Williams thinks fit to slight it, we may as well inquire upon
what grounds ? If, by putting cultivator in italics, Mr. W. means to
msinuate that I am not a cultivator of herbaceous plants, it may be satisfactory to
him to learn that I have grown many thousands, and seen more growing than any
other horticulturist in existence I My experience of them in various soils and dis-
tricts induced me to reject many things of the highest beauty and rarity, because I
knew that they could not be depended upon to flower and grow freely in every soil.
Mr. W. begins by objecting to a four-feet phlox, and says a three-feet one would be
barely tolerated. I don't know what Mr. W.'s ideas of a mixed border may be, but
it seems from this that they are very narrow. It is usually so when an adviser
seeks to apply to the British islands generally conclusions derived from data,
gathered on a spot on which, perhaps, he has passed his life. If a phlox four feet
high be too high for an herbaceous border, what is to become of the Galegas, of the
magnificent tall Delphiniums, of the taller Campanulas which grow higher than
four feet when well done, of several splendid asters, of one fine autumnal flowering
Dracocephalum, and of the Tritomas, one of which presumes to send up a flower
stem near seven feet high, and as thick at the base as a rake handle ?
A good herbaceous border should have many plants over four or even five feet
high, and so much as six or even seven feet, and it should be gradually worked to the
front margin till a finish is made with the silvery saxifragas and like plants, Cam-
panula coronata is a duplex variety of C. persici folia, very good, but not sur-
passing many named, But as the species is named, it may reasonably be inferred
that all its varieties will do. As the list was limited, the species only could be
named, and it was thought better to recommend real distinction than enumerate
varieties nearly allied to each other. Diclytra is not the proper ivay to spell
Dielytra, though so good a man as Mr. Thompson, of Ipswich, has said it is. Spircea
Japonica is a lovely plant, but it possesses the failings, for gardens generally, that
made me exclude dozens of fine plants, probably to the surprise of those Avho live
in places where they do well : in cold stifl' soil it might live for a century, but
never flower in a noticeable way or make even a decent head of foliage. There
are soils and gardens where it does beautifully. But even at its best (and that is
when grown well in pots, and gently forced for house decoration), it is not half so
beautiful as the plant to which Mr, W. compares it —Dielytra spectalilis, which
does well everywhere, and is one of the most beautiful things in existence, both for
colour, form, and the graceful disposition of its blossoms. Of course nobody said
bulbs were herbaceous plants, but no good herbaceous border should be without
them. " Herbaceous border" is a bad name for what should contain hard}' plants
of fine foliage, alpines, grasses, bulbs, herbaceous plants, etc., and which indeed
would be of little interest and beauty unless it represented the several sections. We
were endeavouring to find out the best plants for the herbaceous border, and not
engaged in the unprofitable fiddling of defining what were and what were not
" true herbaceous plants." Would Mr. Williams say if Narcissus trianclrus is
superior to odorus^poeticus, and maximus for gardens generally ? I think not, and
I have grown all the tribe that are obtainable in the botanic gardens of the United
Kingdom. Bocconia cordata is a good thing, but one of many scores rejected
28 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
from rcy list, wliich was written with the hope of finding one hundred good plants
that would give satisfaction to every one who tried them. And I felt satisfied that
those who tried them Avould be induced to seek further, and find out the hundreds
of good things omitted. Trollius eiiropceus is a good plant, and very sweet, too,
which we cannot say of very many of its order. I remember meeting with a fine
tuft of it growing on a big stone, without any soil, in the middle of a Cumberland
stream, during the past summer, and was surprised to find it blooming strongly
from a mere crack. But let Mr. Williams try Trollius napellifoUus, and he will
find'it very much better. The poppy he mentions, and speaks so highly of, is in my
list, or at least the species, for ic is only a variety of P. orientale. I find, by the
by, that some of the things he finds fault with me for not naming are in my com-
plete list.
Now, I shall look over his selection, and may say at once that it is very good.
The best of them are enumerated in my complete list. I will begin by begging a
good plant of the true Bracocephalum grandijlorum. I will send him my address,
and promise anything from X/ilium superhum to Iris cristata in return. Lobelia
syphilitica i& a very poor plant indeed to recommend to gardeners generally. It
only succeeds well in a partially shady place, and in a good moist soil, and is at
best a second-rate thing. Centaurea ocliroleucra is one of those plants that serve
to make herbaceous borders contemptible to the generality of gardens. Sedum
populifoUum is cui'ious, but not beautiful, and curious things I avoided. Ranun-
culus montana is a gem, but must go among the alpines. There is a prize offered
for the best selection of alpines. Will Mr. W. send a list to the Editor of the " Gar-
dener's Magazine ?" Asphodelus ramosus is coarse when strongly grown, and not
remarkable at any time. Digitalis aurea is infinitely inferior to the worst variety
of the common foxglove ever seen. What is D. speciosa 1 Why mention the
worst Yucca ? Gloriosa, recurva, and glaucescens are as far before the filamentosa
as the dome of St. Paul's is to an empty crab-shell ! Cheiranthns Marshalli is not a
hardy herbaceous plant. It is not even perennial. Can you say it is, Mr. W. ? Do
not confound it with C. alpina. Iris acuta is infinitely behind tenax, pallida,
and a dozen other pretty species. The Uvularias are hardly quality enough, and
fail miserably in many soils in England. Stachys aurantiaca is of very doubtful
merit. What is it ? Probably a Phlomis ! Statice latifolia, true, is much better
than Gmelini. Ptarmica vulgaris fl. pi. is a preciously good double white flower,
fit for cutting for wedding bouquets, and fine in effect. I have seen many fine things
since that list was compiled, and wish only to make a few alterations. As it is, I
believe it as nearly perfect a century of plants for all soils and all parts of the
United Kingdom as could be selected. I wish to remove Aster hessarabicus, and
substitute the fine bright Lathyrus rotundifolius. Also to say that so fastidious a
plant as Trillium grandijlorum should not be named, were it not that it is lovelier
when in flower than the best plant of Phalsenopsis ever seen. I have seen bushes
of it this season two feet high, and ivith scores of flotoers on each. The way to
grow it like that is to plant in deep shade, and in a moist spongy deep soil. All
my vines are magnificent, but I wish to add one named De Bergii, which I think
I did in correcting the proof, but the printer omitted to insert it, and I also wish to
specify one variety of Germanica — /. " Victorine." I. Gibraltarica is not the true
name for my favourite Iberis, the one sold by the London' nurserymen as I. corrcea-
folia, nor can I find any one who can tell me its right name. Judging from De
CandoUe, it is likely to prove Iberis eontracta.
In conclusion, I may also assure Mr. W. that I left out some splendid things
like Dodecatheon Jeffreyanum because of the utter difficulty of the many pro-
curing them as yet, and I may also assure him that though I have searched for
these fine plants in many parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, I have hardly
as yet begun the work with them that I intend to pursue, and while without the
slightest doubt that I shall, before becoming quite white, see these fine plants obtain
their due place in every British garden, and I hope, too, to place something on
recoi'd about them quite different from my little list of one hundred, and which will
endeavour to include all that are really good, and guide to their tasteful arrange-
ment and successful culture. ]\Ieantime, I am pleased to find any person who takes
the interest in them that Mr. Williams does, and wish him all success, and hope
one day to see his interesting collection. O'S.
29
NEW PLANTS.
OTYLTA '- BICOLOE, Two-coloured Notylia {Bot. 3fag., t. 5609).—
Orchidece. This little orchid is a perfect gem. It was first met
■with by Mr. Skinner in Guatemala, afterwards by Hartweg in the
mountains of Comalapan, where it grows upon oaks. The wh'ole plant
is not more than an inch and a half high ; leaves usually five •
flower-spikes drooping, bearing from ten to twenty elegant little flowers, which
are mingled white, lilac, and yellow.
GLYrn.EA MoNTEiRoi {Bat. Mag., t. o6lO).— Liliaceae. A stove shrub from
tropical Africa. It has handsome ovate-serrated leaves, and yellow flowers an inch
and a quarter in diameter.
Yanda Bensoni [Bot. Mag., t. 5611). — Orchidece. An elegant species discovered
in Rangoon by Colonel Benscn, who sent plants of it to ^Messrs. Veitch who
flowered it in the summer of 1866. The plant grows a foot high, bearin"- a' mass
of coriaceous leaves, a span or more long. The flower-spikes are uprio-ht° many-
flowered. The flowers closely arranged about two inches across ; the°sepals and
petals of a yellowish-green, marked with reddish-brown dots ; lip same leno-th as
the sepals, of a beautiful violet colour ; the auricles and spur at the base white.
C^LOGYXE BiFLORA, Tii'o-floicered Calogyne [Gard. Chron., 1865, p. 1035).
A botanical curiosity,* bearing ligulate-acute leaves, not reaching a span in heio-'ht
and flowers not an inch long. The flower is white ; the lip bears a callus which
is not usual in the genus.
Staxhopea saccata, Pouched Stanhopea {Gard. Chron., ' 1865, p. 1035).—
Orchidese. A very fine species, identical with the S. radiosa of Lindley 's Fol. Orch.
Stan. 15. The flowers are not much inferior to S. tigrina, and emit an ao-reeable
perfume.'
Odontoolossum ScHLiEPEraAxuM, ScJiIieper's Odonioglot {Gard. CJiron., 1865
p. 1082). — Orcliidece. This plant has been well studied in England both by Bate-
man and Day, but was for a long time confounded with 0. Tasleayi and other
species. It differs from the species named in flowering late in summer, and not in
winter. The colours are less bright, the prevailing hue being light yellow, and
the inferior parts of the flower only are marbled. It is an inhabitant of Costa
Rica.
Catakidozamia Hopei, Hope's Zamia {Gard. CJiron., 1865, p. 1107).
Cycadese. A noble plant, discovered in Eastern Australia by Mr. Walter Hill
director of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. The stem attains a height of sixty feet'
and from nine inches to a foot in diameter. The foliage'is elegantly pinnate • the
pinnae linear, entire, nearly a foot long and an inch wide. The cone arises singly
from the centre of the crown of leaves. "
Odontoglossl-m Dawsoxiaxijm, Daivson'-s Odontoglot {Gard. Chron. 1865
p. 1226).— A beautiful Mexican species in the way of O. Rossii, bearing' slender
racemes of three or four flowers, each larger than a florin ; the sepals rose-coloured
with crimson blotches extending to the apex ; the petals and lip pure rose. '
Ctmbidium HooKEr.iAXUM, JELooTcer's CgmUdium {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 7).
Orchidece. A magnificent species with the habit of C. gigantetcm, but with laro-or
flowers of a pale apple green ; the lip and colour is whitish, with numerous purple
blotches. ^
Pleurothallis Sal-ndersiaxa, Saunders's Pleiirothallus ( Gard. Chron. 1866
P- 74).— Orchidece. A small Brazilian orchid, possessing but few claims to'attrac-
tion as a decorative plant.
Aerides Thibautiaxum, Thihaut's Aerides {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 100).
Orchideoe. A beautiful species, with the habit of A. qiiinqitevulnencm. The
flowers are in a pendulous raceme, and have a rich amethyst colour.
Epidexdrum dichromum var. striatum {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 218).— A beau-
tiful variety of a well-known plant. The sepals and petals are white, and all the
veins covered with deep purple lines.
Spiranthes maroaritifera {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 219).— A South Brazilian
orchid ; the leaves are d ^rk green, with pretty white spots, but the flowers are
valueless in point of beauty.
30 THE ELOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
Trichocentrum albopurpcreum {Qard. Chron., 1866, p. 219). — Orchidese.
A prettv member of a genus wliich contains few attractive species. The flowers
are neaVly as large as those of JEpldendrum macrockilum ; the sepals and petals
cinnamon-bordered, with yellow outside j lip white, bearing on each side a large
purplish-blue blotch.
Tkichocentrvm cornucopia {Gard. Cliron., 1866, p. 266). — A pretty little
epiphyte, from Southern America. It is a " botanical curiosity" of no value to
amateurs. The flowers are greenish-white.
LoMARiA ciLiATA {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 290). — A distinct and elegant arbo-
rescent fern, from New Caledonia. In the swollen decurrent bases of the plnnse it
has some resemblance to L. Gihla, but it difi^ers essentially in its less numerous
crown of fronds ; it is farther dissimilar in the much less crowded series of pinnae,
as well as in their very apparent fringe of spinulose teeth. " The plant may be
regarded as one of the most ornamental, and also one of the most distinct-looking
and interesting of the genus."
LoMARiA DURA {Gco'd. C/irou., 1866, p. 290). — A very distinct fern, introduced
from the Chatham Islands, some years since. It is related both to L. lanceolata and
L. olechnoidcs, but differs from them in its thick leathery texture while fresh, and
in the somewhat cartilaginous margin of its fronds. It is a very handsome hardy
greenhouse or cold frame plant, producing a spreading head of arching evergreen,
dark-green sterile fronds longer than the fertile ones, whicli latter are remarkable
for their stout, densely-fruited, very blunt, crowded pinnas and fringed indusia.
The plant has, in some cases, obtained the unauthorized name of L. recurva.
Cattleya AMETHYSTOGLOSSA A'AR. suLPHUREA {Gard. Chvon., 1866, p. 315).
This fine variety has flowers of as pure a lemon colour as those of C. citrina, and
the lip is cream-coloured.
Oncidium HOLOCHHYSUM {Gard. Chron..) 1866, p. 410).— This pretty orchid
has been long since described by Reichenbach ; but having been reintroduced by
Messrs. Backhouse, attention is directed to it anew. The racemes are as densely-
flowered as those of a Foxbrush Aerides ; the flowers gold yellow.
Palaver flexuos-a {Gard. Chron.., 1866, p. 435). — Malvacese. A slender
annual, eighteen inches high, more or less clothed with stellate hairs. Branches
decumbent, lowermost leaves oblong-ovate, uppermost leaves bipinnately divided ;
flowers solitary ; corolla an inch in diameter, of a pale mauve colour.
Dexdrobium pycxostachyum (G^a?Y?. C7iro»., 1866, p. 459). — Orchidere. This
pretty little dendrobe comes very near to the D. demidans of Don. It has perma-
nent leaf-sheaths, which assume more or less of a purple colour. The flowers are in
dense spikes, white, with green lip. '• Very interesting to those who like to, see the
elegant forms of smaller orchid flowers, but totally indiff'erent to those who measure
the value of orchid flowers by feet and inches."
Osbeckia rubicunda {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 562). — Melastomacese. A hand-
some shrub, which in appearance resembles a Pleroma. It is clothed with bristly
hairs, and has oblong-oval acute leaves. The flowers are terminal, calyx tube cup-
shaped, thickly beset with peltate scales, which are deeply divided into a number of
linear, radiating pink subdivisions ; corolla two inches across, of five roundish deep
purple petals. " The peculiar calycine scales, together with the purple flowers and
yellow anthers, give the flowers a very rich appearance."
Athyrium latifolium {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 634). — A deciduous fern, intro-
duced from Chili by Messrs. Yeitch and Son. "Though having the texture and
fructification of Athyrium Filix-foemina, it is abundantly distinct, not only in
structure, but in its much smaller size (six to eight inches high), and, on the whole,
hears more the aspect of a dense Asplenium lanceolatum than of a Lady Fern."
LoMARiA Lechleri {Gard. Chron., 1866, p. 634). — A Chilian fern, introduced
by Messrs. Veitch. It is allied to Z. hlechnuides, but difi"ers in its erect, not creep-
ing or climbing caudex ; in its larger size generally, the sterile fronds being at least
a foot long ; and especially in the much taller fronds, which rise considerably above
the sterile ones. It is a fine evergreen hardy greenhouse fern. The fronds spread
into a head of eighteen or twenty inches diameter, and reach from one foot to eighteen
inches in height.
31
GARDEN GUIDE FOR JANUARY.
KHelien G'arcZeii.— Supposing tlie vacant plots to be ridged up, opportuijities for
manuring should be made the best of. During frost, wlieeling may be done without
harming the ground, and the manure may be put in the trenches, and a top crust
from the ridges tumlaled down iipon it with the fork. This will be a good prepara-
tive for spring work.
Flower Garden. — There is little to be done beyond keeping things clean.
Koses may be planted, so may anemones and ranunculuses, riowei'-beds that have
not been touched since last season should be looked over, and perhaps a little
manure may do them good.
Fruit Garden. — Where manure is plentiful, it may be well bestowed in mulch-
ing the ground amongst strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and bush
pear and plum-trees. If fine fruit is desired, there must be food afforded to make
it. Planting and prnning may proceed.
Greenhouse. — Fire-heat may be increased, now that the days are lengthening,
and the plants have had a rest. Subjects to be propagated must first be made to
grow in a genial temperature, and then cuttings of tiie young shoots may be taken.
Primulas, cinerarias, cvclamens, and other subjects in flowei-, to be kept warm, near
the glass, and have regular watering.
*4^* Past issues of the Floral World contain copious calendars of opera-
tions, and the " Garden Oracle," has a complete and concise calendar adapted for
reference. For these reasons the " Garden Guide" will be on a contracted scale
this year.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
How should I continue a certain set of beds with the colours yellow, blue, vrhite,
pink. Last summer I tried in the following way, but did not well succeed. 1st,
yellow pausies, which continued bright all summer ; 2nd, blue Nemophila, which
when over I replaced with blue Lobelia ; 3rd, white pinks, which when over I
replaced with dwarf fuchsias ; 4, Saponaria calabrica. The Xemophila made a
very beautiful bed, but when over was very badly replaced by blue lobelia, which
•was not nearly so good a colour. The white pinks were not well replaced by the
fuchsias, which, although very lovely, were not at all a bed of the like character.
The Saponaria did not come into flower till the pinks and Nemophila were over,
and all that time the Saponaria bed was of coiu-se without any colour. The
height and growth of the Nemophila and Saponaria are what I most want
for these beds, but if you could suggest any other kinds of flowers which
■would have the different colours I want, or others which would blend as
well, and make a more regular and more lasting display, I should be
much obliged. Could it be managed with dwarf herbaceous plants of any kind?
I wish to know if it would be possible to adopt the saxifrage and houscleek
(mentioned in the Floral World of November last as beautiful things for a bed)
on a bed diamond-shaped, and only 6^ by 2>\ feet to the corners of the diamond ?
I am obliged to do so much of the gardening in my little place myself, having only
occasionally the assistance of a man, that I should be much obliged for a hint as to
filling my beds with hardy things which would keep the garden tolerably bright
without constant change. — A Lady Subscriber. [The problem proposed by " A
Lady Subscriber" is well worth whatever trouble may attend its solution. 1. The
yellow pansies are admirable, but we should expect them to look very weedy towards
the end of the summer. They appear, however, to give satisfaction, but suppose
them to fail, what should we plant in their place to maintain a display of yellow.
Calceolarias would scarcely do, for they decline in beauty towards autumn, and
would be too tall for the place. If the colour were not too strong, Gazania splendens
would do, provided they were spring-struck plants, or they would be fast coming
32 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
into bloom when the pansies acquired a weed}' look. (Enothera riparia would be
just the thing, and the way to manage it would be to plant it alternately, and
rather close with the pansy, and when the pansy had done its duty, to cut it back
quite close, and allow the (Enothera space for its performances. That pretty gem,
AcliilUa tomentosa, would probably come in well for work of this sort, but we can
speak with confidence only of the (Enothera, because its habit is the same as that
of the pansy. 2. The soft blue of the Nemophila could be very well replaced by
the green-leaved form of Agathea celestis, which flowers very freely in the autumn.
This is the plant long known iu gardens as Aster capensis and Cineraria amel-
loides. Unfortunately this is a tender plant, but it needs no more care than blue
lobelia. But no need for tender plants after all, for have we not half-a-dozen
lovely Campanulas that will serve the purpose admirably? Our correspondent may
take her choice of Campamda alpina, 6 inches, dark blue ; C. carpatica, 3 inches, a
beautiful shade of blue ; C. fragilis hirsuta, 3 inches, blue. We recommend C.
carpatica, and that it be planted in tufts with intervals between for sowing the seed
of Nemophila. Another suitable plant is Viola cornuta, of which there are several
forms, but probably the one oflfered by Mr. B, S. Williams, of Paradise Nurseries,
Holloway, under the name of " Purple Queen" is the best. At any rate Viola cor-
nuta is one of the best plants in the world for belts and lines, and is as hardy as
chickweed. 3. Fuchsias are certainly quite unsuited to follow white pinks, but the
dwarf variety of JDov.hle wliite pyreihrtim is just the thing for the purpose, for it
flowers freely till frost puts a stop to its career, and is scarcely anything taller than
the white pink. To prevent mistakes as to the plant meant, we give the catalogue
name of it, Pyrethriim Partheniiim flore pleno. Probably P. saxatile, growing
4 inches high, and with Avhite flowers in autumn, might be useful in this system.
A line of Venus's Navelwort, Omplialodes linlfoUa, or tufts of it sown between the
pinks about the end of April, would be very beautiful to succeed them. Then again
we have the white variety of Campanula carpatica, which would be a capital match
as to height and habit to the blue kind, if that were used in place of Nemophila.
4. The Saponaria difficulty may be got over provided the bed is riot exposed to the
ravages of slugs and snails, by planting in it Saponaria ocymoides, which spreads
fast, and flowers most beautifully from the early part of May to the middle of July.
"We suppose the species of our correspondent is S. calahrica, a most beautiful annual.
But this may be had in bloom early by sowing the seed in September, But sup-
pose them combined, S. ocymoides in tufts, with space between to sow S. calahrica
in April, then there would be pink flowers to the end of the season. Possibly
JErythrcea centav.i'ium, a charming little plant with pink flowers in autumn, would
work into this scheme admirably. The Saxifrages and houseleeks mentioned in
the November number of the Floral World are adapted for beds of any size from
two or three feet to two or three hundi-ed yards. — S. H]
Myostis stlvatica.— Conimelina. — This beautiful plant prefers shade, but it will
thrive in a sunny situation, if in a cool, moist soil. The way they do some of these
things at Cliveden is to allow them to grow wild amongst grass, aud the spots so
treated are not mown until the flowering of the most attractive plants is over for
the season.
Books. — C. I). — The following monthlies are all we are acquainted with: —
The Botanical Magazine, edited by Dr. J. D. Hooker, 3s, 6d. ; the Floral Maga-
zine, edited by Rev. H, Dombrain, 2s. 6d, ; V Ilustration Sorticole, edited by Pro-
fessor Ch. Lemaire, 14=, Gd, per annum. The first two can be obtained through
any bookseller ; the last is distributed through the post, and the London agent is
Mr. Silberrad, Harp Lane, Tower Street. Your geranium must not be repotted till
the end of March. Lady Stihscriber. — There is no good book devoted exclusively
to stove ferns, Tou would find Smith's " British and Foreign Ferns," published by
Hardwicke, Piccadilly, useful ; Sweet's " Hot-house Cultivator" furnishes good
instructions for all the best known older kinds of stove plants.
"WOCDWAEDIA P.ADICA>-S.
THE FLORAL WORLD
GARDEN GUIDE.
FEBRUARY, 186 7.
0]Sr SOME NEARLY HAEDY EXOTIC EEENS.
ANY very laudable efforts have been made of late years
to enlarge the selection of plants adapted for opeu-air
ferneries, but the results are by no means of an encou-
raging nature. It may be said with some truth that the
cliaiate of Britain is everywhere unfavourable to ferns,
and that, consequently, such as do inhabit our woods must be in a
less degree of perfection than is possible for them, and must be
some degrees hardier than their nearest allies that are foreign to our
soil. Of course I cannot ignore the beauty of our native ferns, and
I bear in miud the luxuriant growth of such species as the common
Lastrea, common Athyrium, and common Scolopendrium in the
" feruy coombes " of Devon. Yet when I compare the best home-
grown specimens with examples of the same species from warmer
climates, I see plainly enough that none of our native ferns attain
with us the highest degree of beauty of which they are capable.
It will be remembered by some of our readers that some years ago
I directed attention, by means of distinct examples, to the superior
beauty of nearly all the British ferns, when carefully cultivated, to
the best wild specimens that could be found. There are many
reasons why ferns should not be quite at home in Britain; the
winters are too severe and prolonged, the springs too cold, the
summers too dry. The south-western parts of England are noted
for the superior beauty and abundance of ferns, and indeed they are
the principal attractions for persons devoted to horticulture and
botany to visit Devonshire and Cornwall. The comparatively high
state of perfection of all south-western ferns proves the truth of the
general remark above made on the general insufficiency of the
climatic conditions in this country for the growth of ferns. But
compare the ferns of Devonshire with the ferns of the so^th of
Europe and the Canary islands ; that is to say, compare examples of
the same species respectively grown here and there, and in many
instances the difference will be such, that it will require more than a
superficial knowledge of the subject to enable an observer to deter-
mine their identity. These remarks are not intended to discourage
fern- flowers. So far as ferns do attain to perfection in this country,
36 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
tbey are the most elegant forms of vegetation known to us. The
common Lastrea in a half-starved state in a common garden border
is a glorious object ; but it is far more glorious when unfolding its
graceful fronds in a damp, shady wood, or in a well-kept garden
rocker3^ Let the cultivation of ferns be pursued, therefore, by
those who love it, without respect to the broad question we now
raise as to the comparative unfitness of the British climate for ferns
of all kindn. But the question does bear directly on the compara-
tively small results attained by oft-repeated experiments in the
planting of exotic ferns in English out-door ferneries. More than
this, it bears upon the experiments, and may be made the founda-
tion of a warning to all our readers not to be led away by certain
statements that have been made public, as to the adaptation of
numerous exotic ferns of noble proportions for permanent occupa-
tion of our gardens. We shall never be suspected of opposing
experiments in the acclimatizing of fine plants, for we have laboured
too long and too ardently in such endeavours to be open to doubt
upon the subject ; but experience has taught us some degree of
caution, and we are most anxious just now to guard our readers
against being led away by some rash assertions that have been made
as to the hardiness of several species of exotic ferns. The public
have been assured, on what is commonly termed a high " authority,"
that the tree-ferns of New Zealand, and many of the Lomarias of
Brazil, may be made permanent residents of English gardens. This
we do not believe, and we hope none of our readers will be so rash
as to plant out valuable exotic ferns of any kind until assured on
what they consider sufficient authority, or convinced by personal
observation, that the species to be planted is really entitled to be
regarded as '' hardy." During the discussion of this question, it has
certainly met with the most sensible treatment in the Irish Farmer's
Gazette, the editor of which believes that some of the most favoured
spots in the " Emerald Isle " might be found warm enough for
DicTcsonia antarctica, and a few other of the noblest nearly hardy
exotic ferns. So possibly some of the most snug retreats of Devon
might be suitable for them ; yet there must always be a risk, for the
recent severe frost did not greatly spare those luxuriant parts of our
isle which the gulf stream warms with its tepid waves. That it
would be very delightful to see the glorious tree-ferns of New
Zealand towering up in the midst of British Osmundas, Lastreas,
and Scolopendriums, no one can question; nor will the writer of this
cast even the minutest pebble at the enthusiast who looks forward
with hope to the day when such a thing shall be. Let the enthu-
siast hope, and while hoping, let him labour to bring about the
result (if it be possible) to which his hopes are directed.
" Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man never is, but always to be blest."
Now let US go, as is our wont, to the region of the practical.
There are plenty of subjective books on gardening, but the Eloral
"World is mostly objective, and we have before us a few objects on
which we wish to expatiate. There are some noble ferns of exotic
THE PLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 37
origin that are nearly hardy in tliis counbry, and all of whicli can be
used in the open-air fernery, or to decorate the lawn or terrace,
without any risk of losinp^ them. To speak of them in a general
Tvay, we may sa}^ that they require a cool house to keep them
through the winter ; but if kept in pots and tubs, they may be
placed out of doors all the sui^mer, and may even be plunged to give
them the appearance of being rooted in the ground, and to render
the pots and tubs invisible. There is scarcely any limit to the use
of ferns in this way, for at Battersea Park last summer costly stove
ferns, such as Cijathea Smithii, Ci/athea dealhata, and Alsophila
mtsiraJis, were plunged out and did well. But in this paper we are
to keep to those that are nearly hardy ; and I repeat, that to make
a good use of them, without incurring any risk of losing the plants,
is just a question of house room to keep them through the winter.
It has been my lot to discover means of increasing house room
without increasing the extent of glass, by tying up the fronds to
stakes, so that when these ferns acquire a great size they shall
occupy no more room than the exact measure of the pots.
I give as an illustration to this paper a portrait of a particularly
favourite plant of mine, a fine 77 'bot?ir«n/^arrtc?ica;i5, which is represented
as it stood on the grass turf here last summer, mounted on an old
stump of a tree. That plant is now so large that we cannot afford
house room for it while the fronds hang down in the way they are
represented ; and when it is taken in for the winter, the great i'ronds
are gathered up, and tied upright to stakes, just as if the plant were
to be packed for a journey ; and then the Avidth of the pot is the
exact measure of the space it requires. I find that if the fronds of
this, and any other spreading ferns of a hard texture, are tied up
with care, they suffer nothing ; and when untied in the spring soon
fall into natural positions, and are as good as if they iiad never been
touched ; and even if one or two are damaged, nature soon repairs
the mischief, and before the summer has advanced very far there are
new fronds to take the place of those damaged. This is a wrinkle of
some value, I know, but I shall charge no more thau the usual price
for the number — a sixpence franks it as before.
SELECT HARDY EXOTIC FERNS.
Tliese ferns are usually catalogued as hardy, and I shall proceed
to state what I know about them both as to hardiness, beauty, and
general^adaptation for the English garden.
ADiANTUii PEDATUM. — A lovcly fom, quite equal in beauty to
A. formosum and a dozen other Adiantums. AVhen planted iu a
warm sheltered nook, in a deep bed of gritty peat, it is quite hardy
in the climate of London. The hardiness of this lovely fern is a
grand fact for lovers of choice hardy plants. In case of any fear of
its safety during winter, cover the crown with a cone of cocoa-nut
fibre or clean-sifted coal-ashes. It must have a shady, moist position,
and if planted so as to peep out from a pocket in a rockery, it has a
charming appearance.
AsPLENiUM ANGUSTTFOLiUM. — A stroug-grovriug, rigid fern,
with once-divided leathery fronds. It is quite hardy in a sheltered,
38 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
well-drained position; but if exposed, or in a spot that is very wet
in wiater, is pretty sure to perish. As it is a cheap fern, it is well
for every possessor of a good fernery to give it a trial.
AsPLENiuM EBENEUM. — Less in stature than the preceding, this
is still worth a place in the hardy fernery. In favoured spots it will
last until an extra severe winter occurs, and probably would outlast
the keenest frosts we have if protected.
AxHYRiUM ASPLENioiDEs. — A fiue fcm, rising two to three feet
high, the fronds elegantly divided and a rich colour, purplish-black
mingled with dark green. It is deciduous, grows freely, and appears
to be quite hardy. For the rockery under glass this is one of the
choicest ferns known ; when seen against a dark background, it has
a beauty not surpassed by that of Pteris scaberula. I very strongly
recommend this for the sheltered parts of a rockery ; it needs shade,
and will bear a considerable degree of moisture without injury.
Ctrtomium falcatum. — This is the "laurel fern," so called
on account of its dark-green leaf-like divisions of a hard leathery
texture. It is a most noble object in the fernery, being as distinct
in its way as a Scolopendrium, but far more majestic. It will grow
in almost any soil, will bear more sun, more drought, and more
moisture than almost any other fern we have, but it is not quite
hardy. Therefore it must either be protected by heaping a cone of
coal-ashes over the crown, or, better still, it must be taken up and
potted for the winter.
CYETOiiiUii CAEYOTiDETJM. — This grows to ouly half the height
of the preceding ; it is an interesting species, and requires protection
in the same manner.
Lastrea Goldiea^^a. — This fine fern (which by the w^ay is not
very distinct in character) has been very fairly tried, again and
again, as a hardy fern, and here has always failed. Moreover, its
growth is unsatisfactory if it is left in any respect to shift for itself;
so, while admitting that it is a noble species, I am quite prepared to
strike it out of the list of desirable species for those who cannot
bestow pains upon it, and give it the shelter of glass.
Lastrea MARaiT^ALis. — This is one of the most beautiful of this
great family, very distinct, robust, and cheerful. The fronds are
twice-divided, with entire pinnules, the colour bluish-green, the
fructification light orange-yellow. When strong it rises two feet
high, and forms a noble tuft. This is quite hardy if in a sheltered
spot, and is one of the most useful exotic ferns known.
Lastrea yovEBORACENSis. — This is by no means eminent for
beauty, though it would be a gross libel to say it has no beauty.
It grows fifteen inches at the utmost, and is as hardy as any British
Lastrea.
Lastrea Sieboldii {Pycnopteris Sieholdii). — A glorious fern is
this, and very " tropical looking" ; we must surely have a picture of
it in these pages some day. The fronds are divided into three
primary divisions of great size; these are more or less lobed, some-
times nearly to the extent of being petiolated, though never quite
so. The texture is stiff and stout like parchment, and the colour a
fine dark rich green. It is not quite hardy, therefore should either
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. oU
be taken up or protected. A good plan is to shift it into as large a
pot as it is likely to fill in the month of April, and in May plunge it
in a shady bank or some sheltered nook of the rockery. Its tine
form and character entitle it to the higliest consideration.
LoMAKiA Chilenscs. — A bold, once-divided, leathery-fronded
fern ; a fine companion to Cyrtomium falcatum. Not quite hardy,
but lives out a mild winter. When strong, the fronds acquire a
length of four feet.
LoMARiA MagellaisIca. — Fine and distinct ; not quite hardy,
but nearly so.
OSMUNDA CIXNAMOMEA, 0. ClATTOXIA^^A, O. GRACILIS. — All
hardy as our own 0. regalis, and lovely ferns for the shady and damp
parts of a rockery.
PoLYSTiCHu:\i ACROSTOCHOiDES. — A fine companion to Lomaria
Chilensis ; the fronds bold, dark green and glossy, and of a leathery
texture. It is evergreen under glass, but deciduous when planted
out, as the first frost destroys the fronds, but the crown may be kept
by covering it.
PoLYSTiCHUM PUKGENS. — A Ycry fine species, rising two feet
high, quite a Polystichum in style. Not quite hardy, but nearly so.
iStruthiopteeis G-ermanica. — This is the glorious "ostrich-
feather fern." The fronds form a correct shuttlecock-like series
round the crown, and the fruit rises on a separate stalk in the
centre. It is reputed to be quite hardy, and perhaps is so ; but it
is not at all adapted for an out-door fern, and I have never seen it
looking well in an open-air rockery. If exposed to wind the fronds
get torn, and if they escape being torn, they are sure to turn brown
by Midsummer-day. Therefore I advise that it never be planted out
until the cultivator has a few plants to spare, and is prepared to see
them all spoilt, with the chance of a better result than others have
attained with it.
Wood WARD lA radicals. — What a grand fern is this, and how
badly is it treated ! Because it will live on almost nothing, very
few cultivators treat it liberally. I know about fifty plants that
have been kept in the small pots and baskets for years without any
change of soil, with their roots cramped so much that their living is
like a miracle. I beg tlie readers of the Ploral World to treat
this majestic fern in a liberal manner, to give it plenty of pot room,
and a soil consisting of at least three parts mellow hazel loam, the
remainder peat and sharp grit. To get up fine specimens, they
should have a shift every spring to a larger-size pot, and from the
largest pots to tubs, and so on for ever, the end of the shifting to be
at that point where the lifting of the plant becomes a matter of
difficulty. The roots may be pruned back as freely as the roots of a
geranium, if they have gone down among the crocks, and have become
unmanageable for the next shift. AVheu in a twelve-inch pot, with
good soil rammed in firm, the plant will produce fronds six feet in
length. To propagate, the best way is to peg down three or four of
the bulbs which form at the end of the fronds in a pot filled with
sandy peat, and when they are well rooted, cut through the frond
that holds them, and separate- them. Keep them one year in the
40 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
pots, and tlien pot tliem separately. . It has never lived through a
severe winter in any case to my knowledge, and I have a fine one
now left out from last season, which I expect will be dead when spring
comes, though while writing this (January 15) I have examined it,
and the crown appears to be fresh and unhurt.
Woodward lA oeientalis. — This is of smaller growth than the
last, but very much like it in general appearance. The young fronds
are of a bright cinnamon colour, and the young plants are produced
in scale-like tufts on the upper surface of the fronds. It is rather
less hardy than radicans, and is more in need of shade and shelter.
As this list includes a few that in some districts it may be a diffi-
culty to procure, I shall advise any of our readers who cannot obtain
them of their own nurserymen, to apply to Mr. E. Sim, of the
Nurseiies, Toots Cray, Kent, S.E., who can meet their requirements
without difficulty, even if they want to buy ferns by thousands.
Shielet Hibbeed.
CULTIYATION or BEITISH QUEEJSr STEAWBEERY.
BY J. CALTEET CLAEKE.
T may not be generally known that bean-chaiF is a very
useful material to the cultivator of stiff soils, especially
for the growing of the British Queen strawberry. But
for the benefit of the reader I will tell him how it came
under my notice, and how I was led to believe in its
virtue. I was then (eight years ago) working upon one of those
badly-drained, cold, and clayey soils so plentiful in some places on
the south coast, and where every attempt to grow the British Queen
strawberry had failed. This was a fact made known to me by my
then new employer, accompanied with a wish that were it in my power
I was to devise some means to secure the well-doing of this favourite
variety. Every plan that had been adopted was carefully detailed
to me by the proprietor ; and he added, " I had given up in despair
till a few days since, when a trifling circumstance revived again my
hopes. Come with me," says my employer, " and I will show you
what I think you will value as a dressing for strawberries, if not for
the production of this desired variety." A walk of a few minutes
brought us to the back of some farm buildings, where had been,
through near eighteen months, the refuse of two large stacks of
beans, or in other words the chaff from the winnowing machine.
It had been put into a heap on this spot with the intention of re-
moving it at some convenient time ; but still it remained there.
Kow it so happened that all the refuse and trimmings from the
garden were taken to another spot close by, and from these trim-
mings one of the farm labourers selected a few runners of straw-
berries, and laid them by the heels in this chaft^ with the intention,
I suppose, of carrying them home to his own garden; but this he
THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 41
did not do, as tliey were left there, and the spot being sliady, they
soon made fresh roots ; and at the time I first saw them they had
made a most vigorous growth, and had sent out runners near two
yards round. Here then was the result of an accident, and at the
same time a proof that the material would be valuable for straw-
berry cidture. Acting upon the hint thus thrown in my way, I set
to work, and had the whole of the heap brought into the garden ; it
was then almost like a black mould ; and as a piece of strawberries
had just been planted, I gave the whole surface a covering of three
inches, reserving a good quantity for a trial with the British Queen.
Its effect upon the newly-planted beds was something like magic,
for as soon as they began to make new roots (for I had very care-
fully forked it in round them) they grew in a most luxuriant man-
ner, and at the end of one summer had made an extraordinary
growth. Kow I know this sort of material by very many is not able
to be got, but still in country places it is accessible to some ; I have
therefore stated what I know about it for the benefit of those few.
This occurred, as I before stated, upon a cold, undrained soil
where the British Queen had previously failed to thrive. My plan
of proceeding was this. I had three rows marked out, two feet
apart, across a good wide quarter. I then dug out a trench the
width of the spade, fifteen inches deep ; the top soil was thrown
out separately, and the bottom stuff wheeled away. I then put
into the trenci, four or five inches thick, a lot of rough spray wood,
w^hich in some country places is very cheap. This was trod in as
close as it would go ; the soil was then put back, and with two rows
was put the remainder of the decayed bean-chaff I have before referred
to ; with the other row a good supply of well-rotted dung was incor-
porated. After this, as labour was plentiful, I had the plot fre-
quently forked over on fine days during a period of three weeks, so
that it was brought to a nice friable condition previous to planting.
AVhen the plants were put out, and got well hold of the soil,
they made a rapid growth in those two rows where bean-chaff was
used ; its lijjht and kindly nature caused the roots to work vigo-
rously, so that at the end of twelve months they vrere well esta-
blished ; while the other row, although evidently benefited by the
drainage underneath, was less vigorous and healthy. Erom these
facts one very important piece of information was obtained, that
special drainage was necessary in this instance, and when applied in
conjunction with this decayed matter, a still better result attended
it. The ordinary mode of draining a garden may do in some cases
for the welfare of this variety, but there are others in which extra
attention is necessary in this particular, and when so applied it
should be placed immediately under the rows, that they may receive
the full benefit of it. But 'even this will not insure the well-doing
of British Queen in some places, for there are hundreds of gardens
in England where it is a complete failure, the true cause of which
remaius to this day a perfect mystery. Some, it is true, have made
the attempt to explain the why and the wherefore, but their efforts
to satisfy the minds of practical men have, for the want of sound
reasoninij, been futile.
42
SUB-TROPICALS THAT MAY BE GEOWN FROM SEED.
BY ZAEL PEOSPEE.
I RUSTING that the practical notes offered last month
have been found of some use, 1 will again direct atten-
tion to plants adapted for *' The Choice Garden," in
the class usually denominated " sub-tropicals," and that
may be grown from seed. I should say that those
who have not yet sown seeds of any of the kinds recommended last
month, but who wish to do so, may still proceed, for there is good
time yet to grow the plants to a fair size before planting them out.
But there must be no more time lost, for the days are lengthening,
and spring is near at hand, and all seedling plants that require a
good long season of in-door nursing, as most sub-tropicals do, should
now be started to take every possible advantage of the increasing
daylight.
DATUEA.
D.fastuosa Huberiana. — This is an annual or a perennial, at the
choice of the cultivator. If sown early and grown liberally, it
attains to a height of five or six feet, and producing branches freely,
it will measure as much through. The flowers are nearly as large as
those of D. arlorea, and of various colours, violet and white pre-
dominating. There are several varieties, all worth having if there
is room for them. If kept in greenhouse temperature and rather
dry all winter, the plants may be put out eveiy year, and if in a
sheltered position will have a grand effect,
D. gigantea. — A very grand species, with white flowers, most
superb when well grown.
D. ceratocaulon.—A pretty robust habited plant, with immense
trumpet-shaped flowers, white striped with pink, deliciously scented.
D. Kni^htii.^This grows to a height of four to six feet, with
superb white flowers.
For the sub-tropical garden, D. arhorea, D. frutescens, and D.
suaveolens are remarkable for beauty, but it is not advisable to
grow them from seed, as they can be with certainty and rapidity
raised from cuttings. When planted out in rich well-drained soil,
and supplied with abundance of water, they grow to gigantic dimen-
sions, and produce their noble odoriferous flowers freely.
EEXTHEINA.
The beds of Erythrinas at Battersea Park last year were amongst
the most interesting and beautiful of all the sub-tropical displays.
Yet I should prefer to see in a small garden half a dozen only of
these plants far apart, standing separately in front of evergreen
shrubs, or in that imaginary mixed border for which the O'Shane
and Mr. "Williams have been waging war so good temperedly. It is
worth the while of any amateur to grow a few Erythrinas from seed,
both for the amusement and the intrinsic value of the plants. At
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 43
page 146 of last year's volume is an excellent'practical essay on the
cultivation of this plant for exhibition. To what is there said I only
need add, that to raise the plant from seed, and to plant it out in
the garden, are feats attended with no difficulty. The soil of the
bed should be rich and substantial, the plant should have abundance
of water all through June, July, and August, and be taken up for
the winter, and kept rather dry in the greenhouse. To start the
seeds a good heat is needed.
E. crista-gcdli- — This plant branches freely, attaining a height of
six to ten feet ; the branches and leaf-stalks are armed with spines ;
the flowers are scarlet, and produced in plenty. There are several
varieties, one of the best of which is Marie Bellanger, which does
well in the open ground.
E. Jaurifolia. — This grows very freely, but does not flower so
abundantly as the last.
CASSIA.
All the species of Cassia may be raised from seed with facility,
and there are very many in cultivation. I shall name only two,
because the object of these papers is to select from amongst thou-
sands of plants those few very best that will be sure to delight the
amateur, and will be pretty sure also not to perplex him. The
readers of the Floral World, I presume, would rather have their
attention directed to the most select and useful plants for private
gardens, than be bewildered with mere lists of names. Therefore I
trust to be excused naming only two species of Cassia ; those who
want more will find their wish gratified by referring to any good
seed catalogue.
C. coryinbosa. — A freely-brancliing, neat-lookiug shrub, which
grows five to eight feet high, and flowers freely in the latter part of
the summer. The flowers are yellow. If planted in a sheltered
border, it will live through a mild winter, being very nearly hardy.
C.Jlorihunda. — Very handsome, with elegant pinnated leaves and
coronals of orange-yellow flowers.
The soil requisite for these should be light and rich, consisting
chiefly of turfy loam and leaf-mould. AVhen taken up for the
winter, they may be freely cut back. Common greenhouse pro-
tection is all they require. To raise them from cuttings is a very
easy task.
acacia.
A. lopTiantha is of great use in the sub- tropical garden, on account
of its most elegant foliage; but, generally speaking, Acacias are not
of much account for the purpose w'e are considering. When only a
few plants of this species are required, they may be purchased at a
low price at any good nursery ; but if any of our readers should
design to plant out a considerable number, the plants for the purpose
may be raised from seed without difficulty. I have found it advisable
to steep the seeds in water at 150' to 200' for twelve hours previous
to sowing them ; I place them in a pan, and put the pan on a flue
or tank. The plants should be grown in a sandy soil, in which there
is some proportion of peat, until planted out, and then any good
44 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
garden soil will do for them. The extreme beauty of this plant
entitles it to the most favourable consideration for the decoration
of the garden in summer time.
DAUBENTOXIA.
This is a fine leguminous shrub, growing six feet high, with
pinnated leaves and pea-shaped flowers of a scarlet, vermilion, or
orange colour. All the species may be raised from seed without
difficulty, but the plants do not flower freely till they acquire some
age ; therefore much must not be expected from the first season
when raised from seeds. They are usually classed in catalogues as
stove shrubs, but it is one more proof of the small j-eliance we cau
place upon those would-be authoritative documents, that all the
species grow freely in the open ground if planted out at the end of
May, and all may be wintered in ordinary greenhouse temperature
with perfect safety ; then, of course, they must be kept rather dry.
-D. iripetiana, D. puniced, I), magnifica. aud D. versicolor are the best
for the purpose of planting out ; and if only one is wanted, the last-
named is the handsomest and hardiest.
«
CTPEEUS.
The paper plant of the Egyptians is one of the most distinct and
beautiful plants that can be introduced to the English garden. I
find that at page 8 of the sixth volume of the Eloeal Woeld
there is a capital paper on its cultivation. I have to do with it as
suitable for the amateur to raise from seed for the decoration of the
garden. Eirst, then, I would say, sow the seeds quickly in a mixture of
two parts peat torn, or chopped up to the size of hazel nuts, and mixed
with one part of silver sand. Place the pans or pots containing the
seeds in larger pans filled with water, and cover the seeds with bell-
glasses. Then place on a heat of 70' or 80^', and as soon as the
seedling plants spear through, take the bell-glasses off". When the
plants are large enough to handle, lift them out with a pointed stick,
and pot separately in the same sort of mixture as used for the seed
pans, and put them in a heat of 70^ to grow, but gradually cool
them as they advance to 60', but not lower. The best way to use
any of the species of Cyperus in a private garden is to plunge the
plants in pots about one inch deep in the basin of a fountain, or any
ornamental water. They must not be put out till the middle oi
June, and must be housed again by the middle of JSeptember. Eor
so choice, so rare, so lovely a plant, this is surely not too much
trouble, except it be for those who can see no beauty in any garden
plant except it be a geranium or verbena.
• C. papyrus grows to nine or ten feet high, but is handsome and
effective in a small state. Its exquisite tint of emerald green, and
its light form, resembling a head of human hair, are distinguishing
points in its character.
G. alternifoliiis. — The variegated form of this plant is accounted
one of the grandest of all the stove plants in cultivation. I shall
never forget Mr. Tanton's specimen at the last Guildhall show ; it
was worth a crown to see that alone. But the variegated form is too
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 45
tender to be planted out, or even placed in tlie open air. It is of
small dimensions, reaching three feet high at the utmost, and usually
less.
C virens. — A very elegant and intensely green species, rising
eighteen inches high. "Well worth having.
C Killingioides. — Yery elegant, dwarf and tufted. A very pretty
plant for indoor fountains, also to put out in July, August, and
ISeptember.
WIGAKDIA.
We have now to deal "with a plant which has acquired immense
renown for its noble character and ready ^adaptation to the system
of planting out in summer in English gardens. I first saw this used
as a bedding plant in Paris, and in common with many other folks
was astonished at its beauty. Conceive as you may of the beauty of
leaves, it will be difficult to imagine the effect of this plant even
with the most vivid description. I shall be content to say that the
leaves are of a sombre green, boldly veined and undulated, and mea-
sure two to three feet in length and breadth. When planted out in
beds it has a superb appearance, but in a small garden I do not think
beds of this plant would be in good taste — a few plants here and
there would be far better. It is useless to keep old specimens, as
they become unhealthy, and it is difficult to keep them. Therefore,
only a few should be kept to furnish cuttings, or they must be raised
from seeds, a matter of no difficulty. Sow the seeds in shallow pans
at the end of Februarj', place the pans on a heat of 70^, and as soon
as the plants are large enough to handle, remove them into small
pots. Any light rich soil suits them when in pots, and when planted
out the soil should be deep, rich, and well drained. If planted in a
mass they must be three feet apart.
W, caracasana is the best, but some seedsmen supply seed of
IV. urens, an inferior kind, for it. I cannot say who supplies it true
and who false ; all I can do is to state the fact that many amateurs have
been deceived by spurious seed and have concluded (erroneously)
that the plant was not worth growing. Of course a certain remedy
for this is to obtain old plants, and propagate from cuttings.
GEEVILLEA.
This noble shrub has a fine effect when planted to stand alone
on a grass plot, or in the centre of a raised bed. It has the grace
of a fern and the character of a tree, and will attain any height, ac-
cording to its age and the care bestowed upon it. Nothini^ could be
more proper than to place it in this list, for it is most difficult to
increase it by cuttings, and hence it has hitherto been scarce. But
seeds are now sent from Algiers, and there ought to be no difficulty
in obtainiog them.
G. rohusta is the best for planting out. But better than planting
is to plunge the plant in its pot in a shady, sheltered place, taking
care to place an inverted empty pot beneath it to preserve perfect
drainage, for much damp at the root is most injurious to this beautiful
subject.
46 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
HICTNUS.
With these I shall wind up, though I still omit many good sub-
jects. But to pass over the castor oil plants would be to leave the
part of Hamlet out of the play which bears that name (a favourite
expression with the English people). To grow the Eicinus is as
easy as the growing of balsams and asters, but it is very advisable
to set about sowing the seeds early, in order to have the plants a
good size before planting them out, for size is everything. The seeds
may be sown any time during February or March, and if extra large
plants are required, the sowing should be made the first week in
February. This, however, depends on the amount of glass at com-
mand. Where glass is limited, the cultivator had best not sow till
the middle of March ; then, as the plants require more room, some
of the ordinary inhabitants of the house will be- removed in their
favour. Sow thinly in shallow pans, use a light, rich, leafy soil,
plunge in a heat of 60' to 70% keep close in a humid atmosphere,
and as soon as large enough to handle, prick off into 60-sized pots
singly. Thumb pots are not large enough for them, even at the first
start!^ Shift on as required, and by the end of May you will have
fine plants. The soil of the bed for them must be rich, friable, and
substantial, and the position should be sheltered.
B. sanguinea, a grand variety, attaining a gigantic size, the stems
and young leaves crimson.
Fi. Olermanni, superb habit, and growing full six feet high.
M. communis. — The common variety is not to be despised.
B. africanus alhidus. — Yery striking in character, the leaves and
stems marked with white lines.
B. viridis. — This has green fruit and red stems, fine.
Those who can obtain seed (true) of B. Bourhonensis arhoreiis,
and B. lividus, will find them remarkably beautiful. But probably
seed of these are not in the trade.
To finish up, I will state a fact which will perhaps startle some
of the readers. It is this (and it is a fact), that if seeds of castor
oil are sown in a rich, light, sunny border on the l(tth of May (or
thereabout), and left alone, the plants will be ten feet high before
the summer is over, I dare say I shall not obtain a testimonial in
silver for that startling revelation (the result of experiment), but I
shall be quite content to have aided so far in promoting the beauty
of the English garden.
A PavAL TO Ax^ECTOCHiLus SETACEUS.— The only hardy plant I have yet seen
M-hich approaches the tracery of this exquisitely marked plant — whose leaves have
not unaptly been compared to veins of gold flowing over a textm-e of green velvet —
is the golden-striped variety of the greater Periwinkle {Vhica major), whose dark
green leaves during the early spring and summer months, are very finely marked
^ith golden veins extending over their entire surface. The plant being perfectly
Lardy, thriving in ordinary soil, and vegetating early, will be found valuable for
picturesque effect amongst''early-forced plants in the conservatory and greenhouse,
or as portable specimens in pots for the open borders, either singly or otherwise. Its
varieo^ation is, in many instances, so beautifully distinct as to be adapted for the
earlie'st bouquets of spring flowers. I find it entered in ]Mr. Salter's catalogue as
Vmca major fol. reticulata. — W. W.
47
THE AUEICULA.
BY JOHN WALSn.
Ckaptee II. — Seeds and Seedlings.
WISH I could begin this chapter by a faithful descrip-
tion or indication of the pleasure I have derived from
the raising of florists' flowers from seeds. It is a
recreation that thrills a florist with delight ; it fills the
mind with anticipations ; usually many of those antici-
pations are realized, and rarely, very rarely, are they wholly disap-
pointed. The more experience that is gained, the greater certainty
attends the pursuit ; but I banish at once and for ever from my own
mind, and I hope the reader will banish the thought, that we are
invariably to judge such a pursuit by its results. Suppose after
raising and flowering one hundred seedling auriculas, I have not
one worth a high place and an honourable name, it is very certain that
I have been amused; I have seen something of ]N"ature's ways, and
am possibly instructed ; and I have one hundred plants, that are
more or less beautiful, that have been bred up by my own hands. In
any hundred auriculas grown from cjood seed, there will be a large
proportion of exquisitely beautiful flowers, and there may be a few
remarkable for perfection, and every cultivator ha? a chance. But I
repeat that it is not fair to judge the case by tangible results ; there
is, perhaps, nothing to sliow as the result of a ramble in the country.
Yet none of us wou^M condemn rambling, because in our own last
ramble we neither found a rare fossil, nor dicovered a gold-mine.
It is too much the custom of thousands of persons who practise
gardening as a recreation to buy plants instead of seeds. I do not
wish to raise the question whether an auricula is better thaii a
geranium, because I think it wrong to find fault with the recrea-
tions of any one provided they are harmless, but I will say that
irequently the amateur gardener would consult his or her own
interest in entering boldly upon the growing of plants from seeds.
Look, for example, at a great bed of Sweet Williams, what a
gorgeous mass of colour it presents. To have such a bed, we must
sow seeds in the first instance. Or look at a frame filled \\ii\\ poly-
anthuses in bloom, and how exquisite are their lacings of gold and
jet. Here, again, to fill the frame one packet of seed will suffice,
though if named sorts are preferred plants must be purchased.
Even common border annuals appear to me much more interesting
than the best of bedding plants, because we must grow them from
seed; they thus become our children; they seem to be dependent
upon us ; we have an interest in their life history, and these thoughts
and feelings make in the mind and heart an aggregate of delight.
But I say no more on the general subject, for the theme particularly
specified in the heading to this chapter demands attention.
Eespecting seeds, all the first-class seedsmen supply good auricula
seed. The seed is carefully saved by cultivators who possess col-
lections, and if it is good it commands a high price. Those who
48 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
intend to raise auriculas from seed, therefore, may buy with safety,
provided they go to the most respectable seedsmen, and pay the most
respectable price. Cheap seed of any florists' flowers is not worth
sowing. If cheap seed were given me, I would only burn it. When
the collector has a good collection, seed may be saved at home, and
every cultivator prefers seed that has grown under his own inspec-
tion ; to say nothing of the additional interest that is created by the
process of hybridizing. I conclude that you have the seed, and now
for the disposal of it.
In the essay on the Auricula in " Grarden Favourites" — the only
essay on the subject in any modern work that is worth reading —
Mr. Hibberd recommends sowing one part of the seed as soon as it
is ripe, and the remainder in the month of February following.
This is excellent advice, and indeed it would be better for the
veteran cultivator to sow all his seed as soon as dead ripe. But for
beginners, and those amateurs who wish to reduce to the least
possible amount of labour their several gardening pursuits, sowing
in February or March answers very well. To sow in the open
border is almost as bad as throwing the seed away. Procure some
large shallow pans or wooden boxes — they must he sJialloiv — cover the
bottoms of these receptacles with an inch or two of small crocks,
and over that lay a mixture of three parts mellow hazel loam, one
part turfy peat, one part leaf-mould, and one part sharp sand. Fill
nearly to the edge of the box or pan, and then press the soil quite
firm with a flat piece of wood ; sprinkle the seed thinly all over, and
cover with an eighth of an inch of the sand soil, and press down again
with a piece of board.
I suppose the soil to be in a moderate state of moisture, so that
it will not require watering. It is well to manage so that there will
be no need to water till the plants are up. This cannot always be
done. There are just two advices suitable in reference to this matter.
The first is, lay a sheet of common window glass over the seed-boxes
or pans to check evaporation, and as soon as there is a lair sprinkling
of green upon the soil, owing to the sprouting of the seed, take the
glasses ofi. The second is, if the seed-pans want water, fill some
large vessel with water, and gently lower the seed-pans into it. The
water will flow over the soil, and wet it through, without disturbing
a particle of soil or seed. This is a golden rule for watering seed-
pans. The last point to be considered is, whether w^e shall submit
the seeds to heat or not. My advice is, be content to keep the
seed-pans in a frame or pit, safe from frost, wind, and sunshine, and
wait. If the seed is good it will all germinate in time. Still, a
gentle heat may be used, and the result will be a more uniform and
quicker sprouting of the seed. The danger is that now and then the
heat may be too much, and to avoid that danger I have always pre-
ferred to wait till the increasing warmth of the season causes the
seed to germinate without artificial help.
Some time between the sowing of the seed and the first appear-
ance of the plants, make up a bed to receive them. The best way
is to make up this bed in a frame, so that a light can be put on for
the winter. But this may be dispensed with. In any case, the
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 49
bed must be well drained, and must consist of light sandy loam,
enriched with about a third part of quite rotten manure. Into this
bed transplant the seedlings, as soon as they have five leaves each,
and plant them in the bed five inches apart every way. Water as
needful, shade from the hottest sun ; if blooms appear in autumn, nip
them out ; when winter comes, protect from storms by means of a
few hurdles put aslant, or by means of frames laid flat over them,
with flower-pots to keep them at a proper height. If you take no
notice of them at all, you will probably not lose one, but they will
look better in the spring if sheltered, than if left to all the injurious
efi*ects of rain, wind, and frost. When they flower, mark the best
with numbers, and enter in a book the numbers, with accompanying
descriptions ; and in July take up such as are worth special atten-
tion, and pot them. As for the rest, plant them in the borders, or
give them away, or destroy them.
Alpine auriculas are of less value than the show varieties, but
they are exquisitely beautiful. Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, has
of late years shown alpines in such splendour, that many auricula-
growers, who would a few years ago have shuddered to have such
things, are now collecting the best and raising seedlings. The
depth of the body-colour, the purity of the gold or sulphur-
coloured paste, and the matchless form of some of the alpine
auriculas are —
" Tilings to dream of with more ardency
Than the death-day of empires."
The raising of alpines from seed is an amusement particularly
well adapted for ladies, indeed I wonder every lady gardener has not
a little collection of these gems, so refined and lustrous are they,
yet so simple in their beauty. As to the raising of alpines, there is
no better process than that described above for the show kinds,
therefore to recommend them is the best I can do.
I have given above the mixture of soils I have long used for the
seed-pans, and I am satisfied no better mixture can be made. But
I have seen some good seedlings raised by an amateur w^bo had
nothing better than common garden loam and some cocoa-nut fibre.
He Diixed a fifth part of the fibre with sifted loam, and having sown
the seeds, covered it with a quarter of an inch of the finest of the
fibre, carefully sifted out from the mass.
A PEW SUPERB YAEIEGATED-LEAYED BEDDERS.
pRTSANTHEMUM SENSATION has acquired un-
usual importance in consequence of its beautiful creamy
variegation and its perfect hardness. It will be a
valuable auxiliary to the variegated geraniums, and in
many cases supersede them. The stock for bedding
may be struck in March or April, and the plants can be trained and
VOL. II. — NO. II. 4
50 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
pinched so as to make a close mass of creamy yegetation, or may be
allowed to grow to full height.
Alternanthera parois'tchioides is the best of the new series
of amaranths lately introduced from Brazil. It is of rather diminu-
tive growth as compared with Coleus and Amaranthus melancholicus,
and quite distinct in character. The prevailing colours are olive,
crimson, and orange red. It requires the same treatment as Coleus,
and must be planted four inches apart every way for a rich efiect.
Iresixe Uerbstii has been much abused, but we have so fre-
quently seen it in beautiful condition, and making a fine effect with
its heavy mixture of bronze, purple, and crimson, that we do not
hesitate to recommend it. It is very bold and distinct, very hardy,
and lasts far into the autumn, when other foliage bedders are
fading away. It needs to be contrasted with brighter objects to
have the richness proper to it, and it makes a fine dividing line
between silvery or golden leaves.
Antennaeia tomentosa is the most perfect silvery-leaved
edging-plant ever seen. It grows as close as moss, and is as bril-
liant as the whitest of the Centaureas. Every amateur who prac-
tises bedding should obtain this plant, and practise patience in
getting up a stock of it for margins of beds. Messrs. E. Gr. Hen-
derson possess it, but whether it is generally distributed we do
not know.
Golden Balm. — This was first made known in the Floral
World, and has become deservedly popular. But many amateurs
forget what was said about it in the first instance, that it should be
planted where it is to remain, and should not be disturbed for
several years. Then the older it is the richer are its colours, and it
really rivals Golden Chain geranium in its splendid appearance.
Dactylis glomerata roLiTs YARiEGATis. — The varicgatcd
Dactylis is invaluable for edgings, forming neat tufts of grassy
foliage, very brilliantly variegated. In all good gardens it has
become a leading member of the group of plants used for edging.
To increase the stock, it is only necessary to tear up the plants in
August, and plant at once where they are to remain. It is quite hardy.
PoA TEiviALis, in a variegated form, has been introduced to public
notice by Messrs. E. G. Henderson and !Son. It is remarkable for grace-
fulness of form and exquisite purity of creamy variegation, verging
towards pure white. It is a grass of tender leafage, growing natu-
rally in a thick lawn-like mass, and adapted either for edging beds
or actually to make close plots of silvery herbage. Possibly this
very plant may lead to quite new modes of displaying bedding
plants, for if we lay down a white instead of a green ground for a
pai'terre, the colouring of the beds will have to be altered very much
from the styles that prevail. As an edging plant it is invaluable,
and for growing in pots and in tufts on the rockery, worth a place
in every garden.
Sa:n'tolina ixcan-a. — A thoroughly hardy plant, growing four
inches high, the branches closely set with minute silvery grey leaves,
making a neat edging when regularly pinched back.
Yariegated Iyies. — We have yet to see justice done to these
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 51
beautiful plants. If employed for edgiugs, we should see the out-
lines of the beds marked as plainly and as brishtly all the winter as
in summer. Many of them, such as the Cuilisii variety of the
silvery-edged ivy, acquire beautiful red tintings in winter, and are
almost equal to tricolour geraniums. Messrs. Lucombe, Piuce, and
Co., of Exeter, have long since adapted variegated ivies to their proper
use, and have some margins formed of ivies in their flower garden.
Artemisia argentea. — This lovely plant may be grown as a
close line, and then makes a lustrous silvery edging ; or it may be
formed into a perfect little tree, in which case it is very elegant, and
well adapted for decorative purposes. It is as hardy as chickweed,
and, in the form of a miniature tree, well adapted for the embellish-
ment of the winter garden.
CoLEus Veeschaffelti is not superseded by any of the newly-
discovered plants that compete with it, by a display of richly-
coloured leaves. It is as valuable as ever, and when effectively
contrasted, presents a glorious mass of the richest crimson, deep-
ening to chocolate shades. It is a most easy task to propagate this
fine plant ; all that is needful is a steady moist heat. The cuttings
may be taken off as fast as suitable shoots are produced on the old
plants, and they root well in about ten days. From the present
time to the end of March is most suitable for propagating this
plant, to have a nice stock for planting at the end of May.
Amaeanthus mela:n'Cholicxjs. — This splendid plant is, like the
Coleus, still unique in its way ; none of the newer Amaranths sur-
passing it in colour. Any quantity may be grown with as much
ease as growing stocks or balsams. A pinch of seed sown now, or
in the course of three or four weeks, in light soil, and placed in a
steady heat of 60°, will in due time furnish plants that will be
strong for planting out in May. S. H.
AEUJSTDO CONSPICUA.
T is important that every amateur gardener should be
acquainted with this noble hardy grass, for though it
does not eclipse or supersede the glorious Pampas grass
(^Gynerium arcjenteuiii) it will be valued wherever the
pampas is regarded as an embellishment of the garden.
It is of robust growth, with broader leaves than the pampas, but
the leaves are considerably less in length, and the plant makes a
flatter mass ; or at all events we cannot compare it to a fountain,
which is the favourite figure when the pampas is described. Arundo
conspicua is not only bold and distinct as a grass, but it flowers
most abundantly from the middle of June to the end of November.
This is one of its best features, for throughout the greater part of
the summer, and long before the lovely Gynerium shows a single
spike, this is covered with silvery panicles, that render it at once a
conspicuous and a beautiful adornment of the garden. Any good
soil will suit it, but in a rich soil with plenty of water all the sum-
mer, it becomes a grander plant than if starved. S. H.
CULTUEE OF GESNEEA ZEBRINA.
BY J. SAUNDEES.
[HE general management of this fine gesnera does not
materially differ from that of others, except that I
would recommend a rather stronger soil. A compost
of turfy loam of a free texture, well rotted leaf-mould,
and light fibry peat, in equal quantities, with sufficient
sand to keep the whole open, that the roots and water may freely
precolate through it, is most proper. In potting these plants, it is
too frequently the practice to retain a considerable portion of the
old earth in which the plant has been kept through the winter,
merely rubbing off the outside of the ball ; this is decidedly wrong,
because the earth, after having supported the plant for six months,
and after that been thoroughly dried, in order to preserve the roots
while resting, cannot reasonably be supposed to retain any nourish-
ment. Yet it is into this the first-formed roots of the season will
have to make way, and on it depend for their first supply of
food, before they can reach the outer stratum of new earth ; mean-
while they are starving. I would therefore advise that the whole
of the old earth in which the plant has been kept through
the winter be removed when it is repotted for starting; and
it is always preferable to put them into the pots they are intended
to bloom in at the first shifting, as the roots are frequently injured
by removal from one pot to another. This should be done about
the middle of March, and the pots plunged in a bark-bed or
forcing-frame with a gentle bottom-heat ; the bulbs soon begin to
grow, when plenty of water should be given, and by the end of
April when the sun usually attains great power, it will be advisable
to shade them slightly, which should be continued through the
summer.
If they are grown in a stove, a back shelf, rather shaded, will
be the best situation for them during the hot weather, though I
greatly prefer either a plant or a frame, as the pit then assumes a
more healthy habit ; and thus naturally induces an abundant bloom,
though on this head little danger can be incurred from either
method, as the plant is by nature so exceedingly prolific of flowers ;
still, by the management in frames, the quantity and closeness of
the foliage is increased, and therefore I think it most desirable.
With the simple attention to watering, the plant will begin to flower
in September, and continue to do so for the following three months ;
after which it should be allowed to become dry, lessening the
supply of water gradually and regularly. While the plant is bloom-
ing, the lightest aiid warmest part of the house should be allotted
it, and at this season of the year it is worth}^ of the best situation
that can be found. I may observe that though this plant, and,
indeed, nearly the whole of the genus, are natives of margins of
woods, yet they require, when under artificial treatment, a free and
full supply of air, or they become attenuated.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 53
Another matter of some moment is to observe in watering to
avoid wetting the foliage, if it is ever necessary to give it them
while the sun is shining, for the water will accumulate upon the
leaves, and then, acting as a focus to the rays of the sun, will be the
means of burning the foliage.
By attention to these simple directions, the happiest results will
occur, and one of the finest of stove plants will be produced. Most
of the bulbous-rooted species of gesnera thrive exceedingly wdth
this treatment, only that in forming the compost for them a smaller
portion of loam should be given, and the proportion of peat in-
creased.
LIST OF HAEDY DECIDUOUS TEEES
WITH OEIJ^AMENTAL FOLIAGE.
Acer Lohelii, a beautiful fastigiate tree, beset from top to toe with short twigs
and rosettes of crenated foliage.
Acer negundo variegata, a free-growing tree of diffuse habit, the leaves almost
white, and probably the whitest-leaved hardy tree known.
'Acer pseudo platamis foliis argenteis, the well-known silver-leaved sycamore,
a lovely sight in early spring when the new foliage is expanding,
Acer purpureum, the well-known purple sycamore ; under side of the -^aves
deep purple.
Ailanthtis glandulosa has grand pinnated leaves, and when the tree attains to a
good stature is a very noble object. It will grow in the poorest and dry est soil ; iu
fact, a rich soil does not suit it.
Berberis vulgaris foliis purpureis, a very distinct variety of the common Ber-
beris, the leaves deep brownish-purple, and very striking when judiciously placed in
the shrubbery. The best specimens we have yet seen of this are in the plantations at
Sydenham. It is there a very remarkable object. In many other places it gi'ows
poorly, and has very little colour. Climate seems to have more to do with the dif-
ference than soil.
Fagus heterophgUa, the elegant and well-known fern-leaved beech.
Fagus pendula, the weeping beech, a most elegant object.
Fagus purpurea glabra, the smooth-leaved purple beech, fine for lawns and
walks.
Fagus sylvatica cristata^ the crested-leaved beech ; curious.
Fagus sylvatica citprea, the noble copper-leaved beech, one of the grandest deci-
duous trees known.
Fagus sylvatica foliis variegatis argeateis, the silver-leaved beech, a free grower,
and very beautiful in the early part of the season.
Fraxinus asplenifoUa, the fern-leaved ash.
Fraxinus excelsior argentea, the silver-striped leaved ash.
Fraxinus excelsior argentea pendula^ a weeping variety of the last-named.
Gymnocladus canadense, the Kentucky coffee-tree, is a curiosity well worth
a place in a collection of choice trees. During the summer its large green
pinnated leaves have a fine efi'ect, but in winter it has a deader look than any other
tree we know.
Halimodendron argenteum, a Siberian shrub, formerly known as Caragana
Halimodendron. It belongs to the Fabaceous section of Leguminous plants, and is
usually grafted on the laburnum. It is one of the most elegant trees that can be
planted on a lawn, having silvery foliage and pink flowers.
Juglans regia pendula^ the weeping walnut, a handsome tree on a large lawn or
on a mound.
Kerria Japonica foliis argenteo variegatis, a very elegantly variegated form
of one of our most useful cUmbing shrubs, the leaves broadly margined with
creamy-white.
54 THE FLOEiX TVOELD A^"D GARDEN GUIDE.
KoelretUeria paniculata^ a hardy Chinese tree, with beantiful leaves, flowers,
and firuit, and an interesting habit of growth.
Liquidamler imlerhe, a maple-like tree of moderate growth, the leaves of which
die off in autumn a fine purplish-red.
Flatanv.g acerifolia dijitaia, a fastigiate plane, very cnrious in its habit,
JPlcUantis acerifolia jpyramiO.alit, the finest of the hardy planes for London
gardens, and for dry hot soils where such trees as elm, oak, and othere requiring a
deep moist loam do not thrive.
FojjuluK canescenfs jiendula^ an exquisitely beautiful weeping tree.
Populv^ iremula pendv.la, if possible more beautiful than the last.
Flerocarya Caucasica, a low tree with glossy pinnated foliage. Very distinct
and fine for fchrubbery borders.
Quercv^ cerrii pendula, a beautiful pendulous oak, and indispensable where
there are any pretensions made to ornamental arboriculture.
Ehui jlalra, the sumach, is one of the most ornamental trees we possess, and
unequalled for its vivid scarlet colouring just before the leaves fall.
Robinia pnetid-acacia, a well-known tree, remarkable for its elegant growth. Un-
fortunately, it makes more litter than any oti^er tree in our gardens.
Saliihuria adiantifoUa, the elegant maiden-hair tree, a noble object for a wil-
derness walk or mound.
Salix Americana pendula, remarkably graceful.
Sallx caprea pendida, the Kilmarnock weeping willow ; a beautiful tree for
water scenes.
Sophora Japonica penduluy the very perfection cf a weeping tree ; does not grow
to any great size.
Tdia alba peniula, makes a bold weeping tree, sweeping the ground with its
ample foliage and gracefully pendant branches,
Tilia Eur</p(Ba fol. argenteii has strikingly marked variegated foliage ; the
leaf has a small irregular dark green disk, and a broad creamy-white border.
Tilia parvifolia fol. variegatii, leaves broadly margined with vrhite ; a fine
companion for the ghostly Acer negundo var.
JJlrnus glabra pendula, a graceful weeping elm, which forms a most beautiful
specimen tree for lawns and wildernesses.
Ulrnus montana pendula varlegata, a silver-striped weeping elm of great
beauty.
jflmvA riminalis zariegata, a small-growing, slender-twigged variety, which
makes a pretty little pendulous tree. S. H.
The Baeeeret Hedge. — A hedge plant, to become popular, must be perfectly
hardy and easy to propagate. It should also be vigorous enough to grow well
in ordinary toils without manure. It should be thorny, to keep cattle
from hooking it, and strong enough to keep them from breaking through
it. Finally, it should be low enough to require little or no pruning. The
common huTh-rry (Berbervt w.lgaris) combines these qualities better than
any plant that I am acquainted with. It is a remarkably hardy plant, thriving
well in a great variety of soils, and is said to live for centuries. It has a
shrubby habit (growing from six to ten feet in height), yellowish, thorny
wood, leaves in rosettes, yellow flowers on drooping racemes, and scarlet oblong
berries, very acid, but making delicious pres^-rves. We have a barberry hedge on
our ground* at Waliingford, Connecticut, 25 rods long, and nine years old, from
the seed. Two roi* s of plants were set, the rows one foot apart, and the plants one
foot apart in I he row; and set alternately, to break joints. This hedge has been
clipped a little two or three times to keep it even, and is now six or sev^n feet high,
with a firm, conrpnct base, perfectly imperviotis to the .<imaller animals, and stout
cnoHgh to torn ordinary farm stock, except for a short distance, at one end, where
the soil is quite thin. An important item in regard to this plant is its habit of
sending up suckers from the bottom, by which in a iaw years it comes to have a base
from six to twelve ioches in diameter. — American Paper.
55
CAUGHT NAPPING.
KEAT as was the panic on the Stock Exchange in 1S66, scarcely less can
' ' n? said of the consternation amonirst i2;ardeners on the morninii of January
4th, 1S67. The Madeira tenipeiatnre of the previous week was suddenly
changed to that of Arctic severity, but, fortunately for all out-door plants,
the earth had been covered with a warm mantle of snow. However para-
doxical this may appear to some, it is a fact nevertheless, and all gardeners were
only too thankful to see sucii a timely protection as the thick coating of snow that
had fallen the night before. The late Donald Beaton used to say. that two inches
of snow on cold frames would keep out more frost than half a 'dozen mats : and
such, no doubt, is the case, as the state of the plants in such pLices proved of late,
not one having scarcely the appearance of being touched by frost, whereas in the
greenhouses, with the aid of heating apparatus, many things have suffered consider-
ably ; for boilers will act treachtrously, and fires will turn sulky iu stoves, as well
as in rooms, as housemaids can testify, and attribute the cause to the ill humour of
their sweethearts. Where there is a regular stati' of gardeners kept, of course every-
thing ought to be perfectly safe, although, no doubt, they occasionally tind them-
selves iu the same dileuuna as other people, tor it often happens that where there
are plenty of hands to do a thing it never gets done at all, or only half done. But
thoje in a position to keep a set of gardeners rarely know what phvnts they posst-ss,
consequently never know what they lose. It is very ditferent, however, with the
amateur. He knows full well the extmt of his stock, and where every favourite is
to be found, and it is the amateur, whether he keeps a gardener or not, that looks to
liis stovo last thing at night, regulat<.s the apparatus so as to keep the tire iu all
uiiiht. and give out suflioieut heat to keep the wa:er in a simmering state till
morning. It is just this sort of managemeut, hewever, that fails iu such a winter as
this, when the tliermometer sinks below zero, as it did on the night of January
3rd, and on that very nii;ht nine-tenths of the amateur gardeners (myself among the
uumb-r) were '• caught napping ;" for although the usual attention may be suffi-
cient to keep out the frost of ordinary winters, it quite fails to do so in such a season
as the present one. It required constar;t attention the whole of tlie night, I am told
by nui-serynien, to keep up sufficient heat to exclude the frost ; and those who went
coiufortiibly to bed at dleven o'clock, and bid farewell to their fires by giving a
friendly poke and a little more fuel, tbund on the morrow a very sorr^- >pectaole,
and one that gave thorn almost us great a chill as the plants. It is difficult to know,
when overtaken with such a misfortune, the best thing to do ; but the plan I
adopted myself, and whicli was attended with considerable success, was to remove
them at cnce into a dark cellar, belore the sun had time to get round upon the house,
and shtd its fatal rays upon tliL-m. This, of course, is a troublesome operation, and
when the cold is so intense that j-ou can scarcely feel the pots iu your hands, it is
anything but agreeable, but the constant exercise ol running up and down stairs,
with all the help you can muster (for what has to be done must be done quickly),
soon gets your blood into circulation, and the work is done almost as soon as it is
thouglit of. Iu this dark abode they were kept for some days, without admitting a
particle of light, the temperature being about 3o\ Some of them were immersed in
cold water, whilst others were not, and I am not quit^ sure whether it is not better
to let them alone, as several of those that were immersed looked in a very pitiable
condition, ispecially a large pot o'[ Francoa ramosa, which, singular to sav, is sup-
posed to be nearly haidy. Muny Lycopoainms were quite restored by watering, and
Camellias and Azaleas appeared very little the worse the following day, the Camellisis
especially ; but it is not surprising t! at they should not be hurt, as most of them are
perfectly hardy ; in fact, one tree that I had planted against a west wall in the
uutuiuu looks as well as possible, whilst a shrubby Veronica near to it looks as black
as if it had been boiled. Many of the hardiest plants have been caught severely
where the tops came out above the snow and were exposed to the sun, whereas the
lower parts are as fre-h and green as they are in May. It is this that gives us such
comfort when we think of our tea roSvS. the tops of which are killed outright, but
are not the least the worse for that. I did not think it well to te>t the hardiness of
Marcchal Neil, about which theie has been some little ditVerence of opinion of late;
on the contrary, I took the precaution just in time of covering it well with dry fern,
56 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
upon which fell some inches of snow, but lest there should not be sufficient to keep
out the frost, I threw a wheel-barrow full more upon it, burying the Mar^chal in an
avalanche, the result of which was that not a leaf was injured by frost ; and, only to
show what a great protection snow is, I gathered both Violets and Primroses imme-
diately after the thaw that were quite uninjured. The Roses that appear to have
suffered most are the Noisettes, for they cover such a large space upon walls, that it
is almost impossible to protect more than the roots and lower parts ; but it is much
better to do thus much than not at all, as they cover the place a^jain in a year or so
if cut down. Celine Forestier, Triuraphe de Rennes, and Lamarque look rather de-
plorable at present, but a large tree of Solfaterre, which was moved to a west wall
in November, I have more hope of, as the sap had gone down so much that the
branches were shrivelled, and in that state much less susceptible of frost. Tiie old
Gloire seems little the worse for the pinch, and Madame Falcothas stood it tolerably,
but it is impossible to tell the extent of damage among roses until May. There are
many things that have received a wholesome check, if it has not been too much for
them, such as Clematis Jackmani, C. rubro-violacea, and C. lamigenosa, all of which
push out their young shoots too early in the spring, and consequently get cut down
in March by early frosts. There is this knowledge to be gained by the severity of
the winter, — the comparative hardiness of many things that have hitherto been con-
sidered tender, and, on the otlier hand, the protection required by some that are
supposed to be hardy. It is earnestly to be hoped that we shall not have a repetition
of the intense cold, but should it again visit us, we shall have derived some know-
ledge from the lesson it has taught us, and that, however we may be in the habit of
regarding one winter as being like another, we shall not be so easy, I think, in the
matter as again to be " caught napping."
Shrewsbury, January 11th. R. T. E.
HAEDT HERBACEOUS PLANTS.
A WOHD WITH THE o'SHANE ON HIS SELECTION AND CEITICISM.
TRUST the Editor of the Floral World will not consider the space
devoted to a discussion on our old-fashioned plants misapplied, when I
can assure him, from personal knowledge, tliat they are far more
acceptable to the public than the everlasting harping on bedding plants,
such as Viola cornuta, and stuff; our glorious old plants have too long
been in the position of " Little Jack Horner," and it is time they should come out
of the corner. When I had the boldness to criticise the O'Shane's list of fifty
herbaceous plants, 1 well remembered the lines in Hudibras —
" Of the dangers that environ
The man that meddles with sharp iron,''
and well knew the consequence of playing with edged tools and all that; but I really
was not aware that I was placing myself in antagonism with a person who had "seen
more plants growing than any other horticulturist in existence." Well, be it so ; but
" When you talk of what you -view.
Think others see as well as yon ;"
and the O'Shane having publicly written to me, and invited me to reply, there is
nothing left for me but to "gird up my loins" and do it. My putting the word
" cultivator" was not to cast any insinuations, but simply to imply that their culti-
vation was with me a matter of necessity ; and while with some they were mere
matters of pleasure, they are to me both my pleasure and my bread. Let me assure
the gentleman that my data are not derived from passing a liie-time in Ormskirk;
I have been a little farther north than that. And now, as to my ideas of mixed
borders, I had no ideas at all about horders, and gave the public a list of 100 plants
that would look well and do well anywhere — plants that aie worthy of any position
and would disgrace none — plants as individualities and not as associations or con-
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 57
nections — plants that need not propping up behind their neighbour's back, nor to
peep over their fellow's shoulder. There is a place for all the tall things you
mention— Phloxes, Campanulas, Delphiniums, etc., and I had prepared a list of tall
plants suitable for such places. And as regards the allusion to the seven-feet high
Tritoma, it has certainly very lofty pretensions ; but I am heretical enough to con-
sider it a very untidy plant, with no foliage at all commensurate with its "rake
handle" of a spike. I must pass by your notice on Campanulas. Many of these are
truly beautiful, but the reflexing of the outer corolla of C. coronata and its milky
whiteness are matters of special interest. I feel certain that much confusion exists
in this and other tribes of plants; thus, in the number of the Floral World for
January, the Editor speaks of C. carpatica, three inches. This certainly cannot be
what is known about here as C. carpatica. Granted that Narcissus triandnis is
not so capable of roughing it as poeticus, odorus, and others, simply because it is
too rare and expensive ; but it is hardy anywhere, and is of matchless beauty. N.
hulbocodium does excellently in our damp sandy soil. Papaver involucra maxima,
which I see is creeping into many catalogues, if not a species, must have originated
from *' bracteata," which its brncteated stem seems to indicate. I shall not descend
to individual criticism on the O'Sliane's list, as he has done with mine ; but, in the Brst
place, I have not agood plant nor anysortofaplant at all of Z>racocei?fea?«w^mnrf«^orM772.
I never had but two plantsof it, which I was forced topartwith. Ifound it in a garden
of a small road-side inn some distance from here, and I should be glad to beg, buy, or
borrow a plant of it myself. Saw it in a London catalogue the other day, and sent
for it; of course they had not got it. I cannot see how you can call Lobelia siphi-
litica second rate; all that I know is it is much in demand. My Ranunculus, I
find, is not R. montana I had years ago under the name of the "Mountain Ranun-
culus." It has a very pubescent leaf, habit of plant like Ranunctdus ceris phno, but
far more handsome. As to the prize offered by the Editor of the " Gardeners'
Magazine" for a selection of Alpines, if you will oblige me with particulars, whether
the list must comprise truly Alpine plants, or plants suitable for rockeries, I will
certainly have a try. I consider AspTiodelus ramosus, the " King's Spear," fit for
the hand of any king or even queen, and am sorry you appear so [much out of
humour with the pretty yellow foxglove. You ask what is Digitalis speciosa.
Don't know; never heard of it; never mentioned it! The reason 1 mentioned the
worst Yucca {fitamentosa) is because it is the best to flower. When well looked
after it flowers freely, and is always a sensation plant, and a well-flowered large
mass of it is before all the Tritomas in the world. Y. gloriosa, Y. reciirva, and
Y. glaucesens are not often seen in flower. Gloriosa was in flower a summer or
two ago in a garden near Beaumaris, and all the people went on pilgrimage to see
the '* wonderful aloe," as it was called in the papers. Cheiranthiis Marshallii is a
hardy perennial plant, and a most beautiful thing it is. I have grown it for fifteen
years ; it is even quite shrubby. I feel sorry for your positiveness as regards this
fine plant, and feel certain that my assertions will be borne out by all who know
the plant. I know C. alpina very well, and shall not confound it with Marshallii.
I do not know whether Stachys aurantiaca is a proper species. I had it above twenty
years ago, from a nurseryman at St. Leonards; it is a curious shade of brown-
orange, a pretty companion for S. coccinea. Perhaps it is one of those things that
you have not seen, and is no more a Phlomis than a duett is a fiddle. Statice lati-
folia is a noble thing. I see you have withdrawn Trillium grandijlorum, more
curious than useful. What has become of I. sessilis 1 I am sorry you cannot
deteimine your Iberis Gibraliarica. If /. sempervirens is distinct from /. saxatilisy
I do not know one from the other. I have a fine variety of 7. garrexiana, but the
best of all tliese fine things is what is known as I. corifolia (not correafolia). I
shall have a word to say on these plants some day. I am glad of your deter-
mination to rescue these old things from oblivion. I had intended the same thing
myself, but will gladly yield up ; but I believe there is work for more than one in
this line; and as for your promise of calling on me, come and welcome.
J. Williams.
58
THE GAEDEN ORACLE EOE 1867.
HIS, the ninth issue of the " Garden Oracle," will, I trust, be found as
useful and original as any of its predecessors. I have bestowed the
usual pains on the descriptions of new plants, new flowers, and new
fruits. The descriptions of plants are taken from the accepted authori-
ties, the descriptions of flowers and fruits are, with very few exceptions,
the result of personal observation and comparison. This is the only garden almanack
which gives iudependent descriptions and criticisms ; in other works such (so-called)
descriptions are merely professional pufl^s. The " selections for 1867 " have cost me
an immensity of labour, for I have not only gone through all the classes carefully,
but have distinguished in each the best 100, best 50, best 12, best 6, etc., as ap-
peared most likely to meet the wants of amateurs whose desire it is to grow the best
varieties only, and who have neither the means nor the time to buy at random and
discover tor tiiemselves which are the best. Persons in need of a J'eic camellias, or
auriculas, or roses, or others in need of a large collection of any particular class of
flowers, will be equally assisted by reference to the Oracle, to the saving of their
pockets, and perhaps also of their time, their temper, and their available space
of ground and glass. The principal feature of the new issue of the Oracle is
the list of fruits. On this I have bestowed great pains. It has. in fact, been in
hand some months, and I preferred to publish late and risk the loss of some part of
the sale rather than a single page should pass without thoughtful revision. It must
be remembered that the 500 (or thereabout) varieties enumerated in the list were
selected from some 5000 or more, the object bemg to place before the reader the
best 6, 12, 20, 50, etc., in anj' particular class, and thus make the selection at once
adapted for the possessor of a few rods of ground, and needing only half a dozen
fruit-trees, and the manager of extensive vineries, graperies, peacheries, and
orchards. All I claim for my work is, that it is original, independent, and consci-
entious ; and I feel compelled by these tokens to dibiinguish it from other works to
which it might happen to be compared. As to its merits or demerits in other
respects, I leave the public to judge, and I am not in the least nervous as to the
ultimate decision. S. H.
RAISING AND FRUITING POT VINES AS PRACTISED IN
ENGLAND.
BY M. A. PAVARD,
(Member of the Imperial and Central Horticultural Society of Paris).
SOURING- the course of ISTovember, when the wood of the vines from which
cuttings are to be taken is sufficiently ripe, they are cut so that each
shall contain an eye. They are planted in pots of about two inches in
diameter, care being taken that the pots are well drained, and filled with
good field earth rather light tljan strong. These slips are planted at
such a depth that the top of the eye or knot is almost level with the earth in the pot.
Some persons proceed as for ordinary slips — that is to say, they plant slips that are
furnished with two buds. After this the pots are buried in a tan-bed formed in a
greenhouse, heated little by little up to 70' or 75^ Fahrenheit. The humidity of the
atmosphere is maintained by frequently watering the flues, the walls, and the paths.
As soon as the young plants begin to develope themselves, air is admitted on fine
days ; the humid heat is at the same time kept up, that they may receive no check.
When the roots touch the sides of the pots, the slips are placed in new ones
about nine inches in diameter, care being taken, as in the first instance, that the
pots are well drained. In the repotting, a more substantial soil is employed than
before ; this is often mixed with fine sand of a white pulverized kind, which, by faci-
litating the passage of the water, prevents its remaining to stagnate about the roots.
After the repotting, the pots are buried in a bed of tan placed in a greenhouse of
sufficient height to prevent jts being necessary to bend the young stems, which must
be allowed to grow up without the least obstacle to their straightness. To avoid
THE rLOHAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 59
placing a prop to each plant, -which, besides being liable to hurt the roots, is a some-
what tedious operation, iron rods are placed about nine inclies above each row of
pots the whole length of the greenhouse, and as the stems attain the requisite height
they are fastened to them. Their leaves and the flues are constantly wetted; they
are watered when they require it, and nioi-e and more air is admitted as the season
advances. Only a humidity agreeing with the elevation of tbe temperature must be
cai-efully kept up — this being most essential to the thorough well-doinjr of tbe plant.
Towards the end of August the young plants will be about fmm one yard and a
half to two yards in height, their diameter varying according to the .species. Their
Tegetation now becomes slower, and the quantity of air is increased even during the
night; then, when the leaves begin to fall, all the plants are buried to a depth
covering the pots, in beds prepared for them. Latlis are fixed to stakes burieii in
the beds, to which the branches are attached, so that the wind can neither agitate
nor break them. On this plan the wood becomes completely ripened, and the plants
are then ready for sale. They are usually sold to persons who force them during
the following winter in such a manner that these slips bear fruit eighteen months
after having been planted.
A few words upon the method most generally employed in forcing these young
plants will support what I advanced above— that the slips produce fruit at the period
mentioned. The greenhouses commonly used for the purpose are of such a slope —
the back wall so much higher than the front one— that the frame presents its incline
to the full power of the sun. These kinds of greeenhouses are so much beneath the
level of the ground that the higher wall does not rise above it more than from
twenty-four inches to about a yard.
The flues circulate in front of these houses. A shelf placed about six inches
above the principal flue serves to support the pots. These preparations finished, the
place is gradually heated up to about 60' or 70' Fahrenheit. The pots and flues are
frequently wetted, and the upper flue is also often provided with a gutter kept con-
stantly full of water, so as to disengage a vapour which, applied to tiie tides of the
pots, excites vegetation. When the plants begin to bud, a little air is admitted in
suitable weather. Openings made in the back and front walls, and closed by
shutters, permit the entrance of air, while cold winds are excluded. When the
shoots become long enough, they are trained upon the iron rods running along the
sides of the frame. The remaining cares consist in nipping ofi" buds, if required,
and the necessary waterings, using water as much as possible of the temperature of
the forcing house, which must be kept some de;;rees higher iu the day than at night.
After five or six months of this culture well carried out_, the grapes, according to
the variety and the period at which their forcing commenced, begin to ripen. The
wetting of the flues, etc., is then diminished, and more air given up to the time of
gathering the fruit. Once this :s over, many persons do not retain the vines, which,
to their ideas, are then entirely exhausted.
Vines thus reared frequently produce, notwithstanding the smallness of the pots,
grapes of good size, bunches weighing a pound or moie being not uncommon. It is
true that liquid manures, which need so much care in their successful employment,
are much used in this culture.
These facts explain why this mode of cultivation is in such great repute among
our neighbours, for it is not rare to meet in England with establi-hmeats that each
year obtain from two to three thousand plants for the purpose of forcing.
Frl-it Trees on Pook Soils. — On a barren and sh'dlo^ soil, pears crack, and
come hard and rough ; apples the same, more especially in dry seasons. Where
such is the case, the trees should be treated liberally. Dg up with a fork the
ground above the roots, and give at intervals during the spring several dressings of
fowls,' pigeons,' or pigs' dung, so that it may be washed in by the rains; and as
soon as the sun becomes powerful in May or June, mulch over the ground so
manured with short stable litter, seaweed, or something of the kind, and in dry
weather see that the trees are well watered, not by a can or two of water, but by
bringing the water-cart under the tree and there emptying it. If this treatment
were applied to trees on the quince, paradise, and other dwarfing stocks, when they
happen to be planted on shallow and dry soils, there would be no room for the
complainis which we sometimes hear that " the fruit cracks."
60
A FINE VINE.
fNE of the most remarkable vines we have ever seen is now in full
bearing in Kaye's Nursery at Finculey. It is not so large as
either the Hampton Court or Cumberl md Lodge vines, much smaller,
in fact ; but in point of size of bunch neither of these, nor any
other vines we are acquainted with, approach it. The Cumberland Lodge
vine is considerably finer than the Hampton Court, and bears about 2000 bunches,
looking meanwhile as if cribbed and confined for room, as the shoots reach the ex-
tremity of the great house, and are there cut off, just as we are obliged to do in
small vineries ; but one of the Fmchley bunches is as large as three of those we
have seen at Hampton C )urt and Cumberland Lodge. Tiie fact is, the vine may be
grown to a fabulous size If supplied with all the root room it can occupy, and a suit-
able soil, and with house-room, so that there is not so much of the remarkable
about those two famous vines ; but the Finchley vine, while extraordinary as regards
size, is still more so, as we have said, for the size of its bunches.
The curioiK part of the matter is that no unusual pains were spent upon the
making of the border in which this fine vine grows. It is made on a hard clay
bottom, a considerable quantity of brick rubbish being placed on that part, with a
slope to a drain at the front of the border, which is about 15 feet wide. It is not
quite raised above the level of the surrounding ground, as most borders are with our
great growers. The soil of the border is not that epicurean kind of loam recom-
mended by most writers on the vine, but just the top spit which had been cleared
off^ building ground in various parts of the district — now and then very sandy, occa-
sionally of a stiff and unctuous clayey texture, with here and there a lot of brick
rubbish ; in short, a mixture of the better kinds of earth and rubbish which are so
easily obtained in a suburban or other district where much building is going on.
The border is about four feet in depth. No manure is mixed with its ingredients,
except what little may descend from the remains of the annual wmter covering of
stable manure with which it is protected during the winter and early spring months.
The house is 89 ft. long by 18 ft. wide, spun roofed, and heated with hot- water
pipts. The vine enters at the middle of one side, and goes across the roof, making
five equal breaks, or, in other words, sending five fine opposite bi*anches to each
end of the house, the base of the main stem being of gi'eat thickness for a vine
vrhich has not been planted ten years. It quite fills the house, and would no doubt
furnish three times the superfices it now does if the house and border were suffi-
ciently extended. At the time of our visit it bore about 300 magnificent bunches
of grapes, running from 2 lb. to 5 lb. weight each. What struck us as most remark-
able was that the bunches were equally fine all over the house, the lowest and
farthest extremities of the building exlii biting bunches as heavy and as fine as the
highest and most favourable parts. Usually, with ordinary vines, much discre-
pancy occurs between the bunches on the same rod. It is doubtful if such a crop
of heavy bunches was ever before shown by one plant, as however large we may
grow the poor Syrian and other grapes, of large bunch but inferior quality, to obiaia
such bunches as these of the Black Hamburgh, even on a vine of the ordinary size,
is considered very good work. The attainment of the result we have mentioned by
simple means is well worthy of record. It surely proves that vine culture of the
highest character is a much more simple afi'air than amateu.rs and many practical
horticulturists believe it to be. There are many glass arcade roofs that might be
highly embellished and rendered profitable by such a plant as this. If the amateur
instead of building a few distinct small houses, would erect a good roomy one, and
cover the roof with vines, it would give much more satisfaction than is often attained
hy those who have not much time or attention to devote to glass-houses. A large
span-roofed vinery of the sort might be made to aff'ord a very agreeable promenade
in winter, a home for considerable qv^antities of greenhouse and bedding plants,
shelves for early-potted strawberries on each side, room for a fine bloom of chry-
santhemums in autumn, and not a few other things for which special structures are
often provided. In summer, when, the fruit would be ripening, and the foliage occu-
pying the roof, we cars very little for the indoor garden, and are usually too glad to
leave it, while the plants we have named must, for the most part, be out of doors or
in frames.— TAe Field.
61
iSTEW PLANTS.
I ATTLEYA DOWIANA, Captain Bow's Cattleya {Botanical Magazine,
• t. 5618). — Orchidacese. This superb Cattleya was. discovered by Wiirs-
zewicz in Costa Bica, but in the course of time was lost. It has been
rediscovered by M. Arce, and has flowered in the establishment of
Messrs. Yeitch and Son at Chelsea. The pseudo bulbs are eight inches
to a foot high, much swollen and furrowed. Leaves one on each pseudo bulb,
rather broad for tlie genus, from a span to a foot long. Peduncle two to six
flowered, very stout ; flowers very large and gorgeously coloured, the huge sepals
and petals being clear nankeen, and the lip purple and velvety, with golden
threads radiating from its centre. This superb plant is easily grown, but requires
the warmest end of the Cattleya house.
Rhaphia t^digera, the Torch Palm {IJ Illustration Eorticole^i. 499) . — Palmace^e.
This is an elegant palm, a native of Brazil, where it inhabits the sides of rivers and
lagoons, but is rarely found in the forests of the interior. It attains a noble stature,
and throws out from the summit of a slender stem a graceful head of plume-like
leaves.
Dendrobium Charltonii {Hihherd) — This beautiful"species has been forwarded
to us fi-om Colonel Charlton, of Farm Hill, Braddon, Isle of Man. It bears some
resemblance to D. primulinum, but is scarcely so attractive, owing to its less bril-
liant colour. It is of very free habitj the leaves are about a span long, lanceolate,
distinctly ribbed, dull dark green. The flowers are produced in large diffuse
racemes, sepals and petals neai'Iy equal in size, their colour pale buff yellow. The
lip Jbas a tinge of purplish brown at the base, but is otherwise the same colour as the
other parts of the flower. Its free habit is a great recommendation to the cultivator.
Unfortunately it is quite destitute of odour. The plant has been named in honour
of a nephew of Colonel Charlton, who, like himself, is an enthusiastic cultivator of
orchids.
TO COEEESPONDENTS.
Variegated Ivy. — H. T. ^., Shreioshury. — Your ivy is the common variegated
Irish, the garden name for it is Hedera Canariensis variegata. The maculata variety
is spotted and mottled with greyish amber, and has redder leaf-stalks than the one
you send, and it is also more uniform in variegation. H. C. variegata is one of the
most inconstant and variable of all variegated plants known.
Ferns from Spores. — JF". .7. Mann. — All the ferns in your list are likely to
come from spores, provided the spores are good. The simplest and safest way to
proceed is to procure a few shallow pans, with bell-gla-ses to fit. Xext, fill the pans
to half their depth with broken pots or bricks, and then fill up to the rim with stone
or brick, pounded to the size of peas, with all the dust, or with a mixture of peat in
nodules and stone broken to the size of peas. Having raised many thousands of
ferns from spores, we have learnt to value pounded brick and stone as far superior
to peat. Sprinkle the sp^es thinly, put on the bell-glasses, and place every pan in
a larger pan filled with water, and then shut all up in a warm and rather dark part
of the stove. If you have no stove, put them in the warmest part of the green-
house. We have used with great success a large copper trough, three inches deep,
to stand the pans in, and to keep all together snug. The trough stands on a flue
under a stage, and the heat of the water in tlie trough is usually 80\ that of the
top crust of soil in the pans being about 70'. We find this plan suit stove and
greenhouse ferns equally well. When the little plants are large enough to handle,
we pot them separately, a considerable number requiring only to be lifted on
the fragment of stone tliey are attached to without any actual disturbance of the
roots.
Evergreens fob Window — JFatton. — You do not state distinctly what you
wish for in the way of information. You say : *' I have a window with an eastern
62 THE FLORAL WORLD AKD GARDEN GUIDE.
aspect, in which I intend to place places. Would you kindly name a few evergreens
that would do there ?" Tliese are the very words, and we are puzzled to know what
to make of them. If the evertrreens are to be out of doors, the best will be Biixus
rotundifolla, TImja Ja-ponica, small plants of Cedrus deodara, and a few neat varie-
gated Hollies. If iniloors, the following are suitable — Coronilla glaucay Cytisus
racemosa, Oleafragrans. For a nice weeping tree for the position you describe,
plant either Sophora Japonica pendula, or SaUx Americana pendula. If you want
a third name to choose from, Ulmus viminalis is suitable. For a town garden, S,
neat half-pendulous L iburnnm is not to be despised.
P. B. — We really cannot undertake to provide the index you propose. It would
probably be purchased by only half a dozen persons, and if so would entail a heavy
loss.
Crito. — Your first letter contained a number of queries relating solely to matters
of law. It cost us much time to read that letter, and it was set aside with the
intention of submitting it to a person skilled in the law for reply. In due time it
was discovered that to furnish a categorical reply would be to play the part of legal
adviser, at expense to ourselves, for the benefit of a single individual. We respect-
fully decline to consider the case any further, and refer you to your oivn lawyer.
Your second communication was accompanied with a parcel of leaves of trees.
These certainly are in our way, and would have had attention long since if circum-
stances had permitted. But here again we do not hold ourselves responsible,
because we have said again and again that we will not name plants from mere
leaves, for the simple reason that it is impossible. We have hundreds of imperfect
specimens sent ; if we were to labour over them as the senders desire, we shotdd be
dead in a (q\v months. We profess to know something about plants, but we avow
that we are not conjurors. However, your leaves shall be examined with care as
soon as health and lime permit, and as far as we can make them out you shall have
their names. But we plainly repudiate all responsibility respecting them. In the
same parcel was one flower, — the name of that is Carlina acaulis, the " stemless
thistle." Tliis is a scarce, curious, and most interesting plant, spreading over the
ground a mass of bold leaves like a throne, on which sits a large yellow flower with
parchment-like ray.s. It may be likened to a star on a cushion.
Dendrobium moniliforme. — J. P. Haslam. — The colours are usually light blue
I and white, but there are varieties with pink and white fl.owers.
Pruning Nut Trees— ^. P. — The reason your trees are barren is probably
owing to nt^giect of pruning. When trees have been thus neglected it requires some
years to restore them to fruitfulness. The proper system of pruning nut trees is that
which gardeners call "spurring." To restore old trees to bearing, the Kentish
method is to select a sufficient number of main branches, sufficiently far apart to
admit light to all parts of the tree, and removing all other principal branches by a
clean cut at the base. Then tbe side-shoots are cut ofi" nearly close, leaving only
two or three buds to each. But a few side-shoots maybe left their full length if they
are situated in any part of the head that wants filling up. The next season all the
young shoots must be cut off nearly close to the point they spring from, and all
strong leaders must be shortened. In the third year of the process several small
shoots will arise at the base of the side branches which were cut off the preced-
ing year, and Piom these shoots the next year's fruit may be expected. The usual
time for pruning is February.
Books. — R. B. — Any bookseller can obtain what you want. The Editor of
the Floral Would does not trade in books or seeds. On the subject of vine culture
nothing better than Mr. W. Thomson's book, published by Blackwood, price ds.
On Pines, Mr. D. Thomson's book, same publisher, same price. On roses, nothing
to equal the " Rose Book," price Ss. On Biitish Ferns, Moore's Handbook, 5s. Ou
management of small gardens, the " Town Garden," 3s. Qd.
S. J. Bullenhead. — l, Cystopteris fragilis ; 2, Pteris arguta ; 3, Lastrea dila-
tata, perhaps ; but being immature specimens, cannot say for certain.
Seedling Roses. — Henry Lamb. — The usual way of dealing with rose seed is
to put the hips (berries) in sand all winter and spring, to clean the seed from the
rubbish, and st)w it. But a much simpler way is to beat the seed out, or separate
it from the fibrous matter in which it is imbedded, and sow it in the same way as
any other seed. As the ordinary method is not the best, we propose to say a few words
more on the subject. Suppose the seed left on the bushes till the end of the year,
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 63
then let it be gathered and separated, and sowed in pans or boxes, and be placed in a
cool frame or pit. The soil should be light and sandy, consisting partly of friable
loam, leaf-mould, and quite rotten manure. The seed will germinate in any sort of
soil, but it is proper to afford the young plants such sustenance as is adapted
for them, that they may be strong from the first. "When the plants have three
leaves in addition to the seed-leaves, carefully lift them out and pot tliem separately
in the smallest sized pots, and grow them in frames or cool greenhouse with care,
shifting them to larger and larger pots as they require it, till they are in 7-inch
or 9-inch pots, and keep tliem in those pots till they flower. The seed pans, or
boxes, will afford a succession of plants for months together, as some of the seeds
will be much slower in germinating than others, Ti:e piactice of sowing in the
open ground is adapted cnly for those who grow seedling roses on a large scale.
One important matter must be borne in mind, and that is, not to allow them to
flower until they have attained some size. We have had seedling roses flower when
only four iiiches high, and in 60-size pots, which of course is an injury to them, and
the flowers are no use.
Plantesg PixcrsHiON Beds. — Stmrise. — Single plants such as Bijou geranium,
Cineraria maritima, and other striking subjects, may be put in the centres of small
pincushion bs-ds without violating good taste, for indeed such a method of using
them is usually very efi'ective. In describing the bedding at great gardens you wiU
find that we frequently speak of such beds as having " a dot " of so-and-so. It is
good taste to make the dot harmonize with the edging of the bed, that is, if the bed
has an edging. Thus, if the edging is yellowish, such as Arabis lucida variegata,
a dot of Cloth of Gold, or Mis. Pollock, is good ; if grey, such as Arabis afbida
variegata, then a grey dot such as Alma or Flower of Spring is good ; if silvery edge,
such as Cerastlum tomentosum, then a silvery centre such as Cineraria maritima
(large old plants are intensely silvery as compared with young plants), or Artemisia
argentea. Your query is not at all " insignificant : " it is rarely that an insignifi-
cant query reaches us.
Pruxixg Vixes — Alpine Stkawbeery. — A. B. — You have pruned yours right
enough. There are many ways of pruning vines, but for ground vineries they
must be kept to single rods, and there are at the very base of the laterals dormant
buds that will make fruit even when the last visible bud is cut away. In any future
case you may remember a golden rule to keep vines to close rods, and that is, to
leave one bud only of each lateral ; no matter how long or how strong the lateral,
cut all away but one bud. Probably Schsenia oppositifolia may be obtained of Mr.
Thompson, Tavern Street, Ipswich ; he imports many good things from Swan
River. The Alpine Strawberry is a variety of the English wild strawberry, and the
best way to enjoy the fruit of it is to raise plants from seed every year, and destroy
them as soon as the fruit is gathered.
Cuttings in Cocoa-nut Fibre. — A. I?.— Yes, the cuttings of verbenas,
petunias, geraniums, and indeed cuttings of almost any kind, will make roots very
quickly in this material. It is one of its peculiarities that it induces the formation
of roots more quickly than any other substance in which cuttings can be rooted.
Chbtsanthemums. — Miss A. — You will find at page 376 of the December number
a list of the varieties that w^ere in the best collections at the London exhibitions.
The following are the very best in cultivation : Large I-ncu7'ved—Ahhe Passaglia,
AntonelH, Bella Donna, Beverley, Golden Beverley, Cherub, Dr. Brock, Duchess of
Buckingham, Florence Nightingale, General Bainbrigge, General Harding, General
Slade, Golden Ball, Gloria Mundi, Hereward, Her Majesty, lona, Jardin des Plantes,
John Salter, Lady Harding, Lady Carey, Lady Slade, Mr. Brunlees, Prince Alfred,
Prince^ of Wales, Robert James, St. Patrick. Large rejlexed — Alma, Atro Rubens,
Beaute du Nord, Chevalier Domage, Christine, White Christine, Golden Christine,
Garibaldi, Jewess, Julia Grisi, Julia Lagravere, Little Harry, Madame Poggi,
Pelagia, Progne, Titania. Large Anemotie-Jlowered — Empress, Fleur de Marie,
Gluck, King of Anemones, Lady Margaret, Louis Bouamy, Prince of Anemones,
Queen Margaret, Handel. Pompones— General Canrobert,' Bob, Aurora Boreahs,
Driu Drin, Fairest of the Fair, Helene, Madame Fould, Miss Talfourd, Mrs. Dix, Mrs.
Turner, Rose Trevenna, White Trevenna, Solomon, St. Thais, Riqniqui. Pompone
Anemones— Antonins, Astrea, Boule de Ncige, Firefly, Cedo NuUi, Lilac Cedo Nulli,
Madame Montcls, Mr. Shirley Hibberd, Mr. Astie, Reine des Anemones. There are
64 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
larger selections of these in the " Garden Oracle," but those named above will be suffi-
cient for most of our readers, and in quality they cannot be beaten.
Plants Destroyed Mysteriously. — " In a small suburban garden, much ex-
posed to smoke, all young fresh leaves are eateu away as fast as they grow. Thus
the new growth of Canterbury bells, and of most bedding plants, such as Calceo-
larias, were entirely destroyed, without being able to discover the cause. Can you
tell us what is the cause of this ? — A., Liverpool." [All town gardens are infested
with vermin to ten times the extent of gardens in the open country ; this is owing
to the numerous walls, hedges, fences, rockeries, etc., which afford harbour for them.
Probably A's. plants are destroyed by wood-lice. One safe method of dealing with
the garden will be to occasionally sprinkle fresh lime lightly on the plants and the
ground between them. Another plan will be to adopt a systematic method of trap-
ping the destroyers. Clean dry pieces of bark, just as removed from trees recently
felled, are good traps, as wood-lice soon collect beneath them, and can be destroyed
wholesale. Another good plan is to take a number of small flower-pots and open
holes for thern, and plunge them to the rim amongst the plants. Into these pots
throw a few slices of apple, or potato, or fresh leaves of lettuce, and cover the
baits with dry moss. Take up the pots every mornin<2; and turn out the contents
into a pail of boiling water, and put in fresh baits, and cover with moss as before.
If snails and slugs abound, a capital system of trapping is to provide some common
roof tiles, and with them to cover little heaps of fresh brewers' grains. Take up
the tiles every morning, and the snails and slugs will be found rioting in a most
happy manner in the treat provided for them.
Chabcoal in Pots. — W. M. W. — It is a very good plan to use charcoal in
place of potsherds as drainage for pots, and you may use them again and again, any
number of times. It would be well, perhaps, to strew them on a clean pavement,
or wherever they can be fully exposed to the weather for a week or so after they
have been in use some time. Charcoal never becomes thoroughly corrupted, for it
has the property of decomposing the gases it absorbs. We cannot say which is best
for hedging, Baron Hugel, Harry Hieover, or Indispensable, because we are not
acquainted with the last named, and the other two are so different that one would
be best in one case, and vice versa. Baron Hugel has a very black zone and bright
scarlet flowers, with white eye ; Harry Hieover has green leaves, a wiry habit, and
orange-red flowers.
Vine Disease. — J. A. C. Sarleston. — Yor grapes did reach us, and we remem-
ber them well. But did any letter accompany them ? We incline to think not.
But our remembrance of the case prompts us to suggest that your jSIuscat vines are
too cold at the root to do any good. We should regard all sulphur dustings,
and all other applications of nostrums to the leaves, or any other part of the upper
growth, as useless. Probably this is a good time to consider the state of the roots,
and if you will let us know what sort of border the vines are planted in, we may be
able to advise you advantageously. As an a priori judgment, we would say that if
the roots are in an outside border, it is but rarely you can have a crop of ripe gi'apes,
for Muscat of Alexandria requires as much heat as any grape grown.
Camellia House.— J". R. C, Taunton. — The plan you propose will answer ad-
mirably. Caraelias do not want much heat, and at the time they are growing freely
the season is advancing to help them. You could see good collections at Messrs. A.
Henderson and Co., Edgware Road ; Messrs. Veitch and Son, Chelsea ; Mr. Fraser,
Lea Bridge Road ; Mr. B. S. Williams, Hollo way.
Hakdy Hebbaceous Plants. — C. C. — The O'Shane's boast was a mere burst of
jocularity, and by no means inappropriate, in reply to a certain observation made by
Mr. Williams. It is true, however, that the O'J^hane (who has another name), has
had the management of one of the best collections of hardy plants ever formed in
this country, and has studied them with an earnestness and success scarcely to be
paralleled. He is now on the Continent, and we shall probably not hear from him
for some time to come. We think it well that the discussion between him and Mr.
WiUiams should now close, but we shall always be glad to hear from Mr. Williams,
and have much enjoyed his communications.
*^* An Admirer of the Flokal Woeld will be glad if any of its readers can
introduce him to a copy of the Editor's work, "Rustic Adornments," fourteen
shilling edition. [The inquirer is Mr. J. S. Smith, of High Street, Huntingdon,]
THE FLORAL WORLD
AND
GAEDEN GUIDE
MARCH, 186T.
COLLECTING AND SELECTING.
pIATEUR cultivators who are not bound hand and foot
to the delusions of the bedding system, find exhaustless
amusement in collecting representatives of various
families of plants adapted to the means at their com-
mand for keeping and cultivating them. Where the
bedding system reigns in its full severity, this is impossible, for
greenhouses, frames, and nursery beds are all filled to overflowing
with the monotonous round of subjects that are to be planted in
May, that are to bloom in July, that are to be ragged in September,
and that are to be housed in October, leaving the places they occu-
pied empty and cold till May returns again. Collecting allies hor-
ticultural recreation with botanical science, afl:brds scope for the
exercise of thought, and occasionally quickens inquiry and research ;
it instils into the mind a larger knowledge, and into the heart a
warmer love of plants than is possible where the garden is kept as a
place for a mere display of colour during three or four months of the
whole year. It is next to impossible to avoid collecting when an
interest has been created for certain forms of vegetation. The lover
of ferns is always in want of certain species and varieties ; the cul-
tivator of succulents, of bulbs, of hardy herbaceous plants, of choice
trees and shrubs, finds that his possessions are so many keys to the
vegetable kingdom, and at every advance of knowledge accomplished
by their aid, he learns how many more interesting and beautiful
plants there are in the world which he has not yet obtained, and
which he would rejoice to possess. Collecting is, in fact, an exciting
pursuit, and we could sooner forgive a man for wasting his substance
in riotous gardening, when this passion had seized him, than if he
were under a geranium or verbena spell, revolving only amid half-a-
dozen species of plants, and deriving no higher pleasure from his
garden than repeating upon its surface the designs he is already tired
of in carpets, chintzes, and wall-papers. Eor the public promenade,
as for the great garden, where there is room for everything, and
ample means to boot, good bedding is one of the necessities of the
decorative part of horticulture ; but in the small garden, which is
VOL. II. — NO. III. 5
66 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
like an extecsion of the drawing-room, or a sort of outdoor parlour,
something more is wanted than daubs of yellow and red, which,
'* Like the borealis race,
Flit ere you can point their place."
We want entertainment the whole year round, beauty for the eye,
and witli it fragrance, agreeable associations, variety, and something
to engan:e and interest the mental faculty. In place of the scrubby
evergreens tliat are tolerated — because the bedding, like the Dragon
of Wantley, swallows up everything but itself — v.e ought to see in
private gardens a considerable variety of the most beautiful shrubs
and trees, deciduous and evergreen; the first so various in form and
leafage, and many of them so magnificent w^ hen in flower ; the second
warm and rich in the depth of winter, making the place look like
home, so that a glance from the windows neither chills nor repels, as
must be tlie case when a person of any taste looks out upon a dreary
parterre that is known tc be of use only in the height of summer,
•when mere colour is least wanted, and when, in many cases, the
family are away, and see nothing of it. And in the borders in
advance of the trees and shrubs we should see mixtures of all kinds,
spring flowers in abundance, and in all the deliglitful variety in
which they niay be obtained, the gems of the vegetable creation that
appeal to the pleasantest memories, and in their subdued and refined
colourings seem to be almost musical in their speaking prettiness.
And for sumu'er and autumn, and even for winter, the hardy plants
ccmprise myriads of fine subjects, some showy enough even for a
vulgar taste, but many more beautiful in the true sense of the
word, with grace of form and delicate harmonies of tintings, and
characters so individual, that every one deserves to have a history,
and to have that history told to all admirers. And when winter
comes again, the variegated-leaved and berry-bearins: shrubs that are
within the reach of English cultivators would suffice to effect an
apparent change of climate. It is enough for us to be frozen to-
day and roar^ted to-morrow in this wayward, cliangeable, ungenial,
unfriendly clime; we need not make our gardens lugubrious to
increase the horror ; yet this we do, and only at rare intervals do
we meet with examples of what Eugiibh gardens might be in warmth,
cheerfulness, richness, and variety, even in the very depth of such
winters as make havoc of human lives. Our ten years' repetitioris
of such arguments as these may, for all we know, have somewhere
produced an eflect by this time ; but whether there be results or
not, we shall probably continue, as occasions offer, to direct the
attention of our readers to the undeveloped resources of ornamental
gardening in this country, and do our best to point out the several
subjects that are best fitted to make our gardens worthy of the
spirit and the means and intelligence of the English people.
We begun with remarks for collecting, yet we should hope that
very few ot our readers are devoted to the profitless task of indis-
criminate gathering together of the members of any family of plants.
It is not every member ot the vegetable kingdom that -s adapted
for cultivation in gaidens, and amongst the most beautiful and
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 67
useful species and varieties some are better than oj;hers, and the wise
mnn will, if possible, select the best and leave the rest to nature.
As for ugly plants — and there are such — they are generally rele-
gated to the botanists, which is a form of sarcasm founded on the
too often professed admiration of would-be botanists for things
that persons of taste find nothing in to admire. Far better than
collecting is selecting, and in this amusement we are constantly
endeavouring to assist our readers, by directing attention to the best
species and varieties in the several classes of plants that are adanted
for the embellishment of our gardens. Hardy plants would never
perhaps have been at a discount, as they have been for many vears
past, if cultivators of them had taken care to sift out the best and
toss the rest to limbo. No one, for example, amongst the unini-
tiated, would care to grow Michaelmas daisies, after having seen an
ordinary mixture of them in an old-fashioned border, for a con-
siderable proportion of the immense number of species entered in
the books are rubbish, their ragged weedy look is completely matched
by their miserable flowers ; so of many other families, yet the true
collector can pick out a few that perhaps are unparalleled for
beauty, and if amateurs would grow only what is good, they might
serve the cause of art in this direction ; for good herbaceous plants,
and indeed good shrubs, good bedders, recommend themselves when
seen, and bring into good repute the classes they belong to. Those
who grow ugly plants do harm to horticulture, and the very many
ugly things that have been tolerated and that are tolerated in English
gardens, make it appear to the passing crowd that in geraniums,
calceolarias, and verbenas alone are beauty and interest to be Ibund.
S. H.
SUB-TEOPICAL PLANTS FOR THE CHOICE GAEDEN.
BY KAEL PKOSPEE.
AYINGr brought under the notice of the reader selections
of noble habited plants that may be safely and expe-
ditiously raised from seed, I shall now direct attention
to a few others that cannot be so produced, or that it is
not desirable to seek or obtain seeds of.
caladiu:m:.
From this genus we obtain a selection of plants of most distinct
and noble aspect for the English gardens. In warm sheltered
districts in the south of England there can be no doubt that our
exhibition caladiums, those gorgeously-coloured plants that elicit
the astonishment of the spectator unused to beholding the wonders
of the vegetable kingdom — there can be no doubt that these might
be planted out and would thrive well. But let our test for all the
southern parts of England be the results obtained at Battersea
Park, where last summer CalacUum esculentum was largely planted,
and made some of the most remarkable beds ever seen. One bed,
45 feet long by 6 feet wide, was a mass of these noble leaves, some
€8 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
of tbem measuring 2h to 3 feet iu length. It is perhaps only as
isolated specimens that they will be planted in private gardens ; I
confess I am not at all anxious to see great beds of them in
small places. The bed selected for any of these plants should consist
of light rich earth, if containing a considerable proportion of turf
all the better. It should also be deep and moist. The <:nd of May,
or even the second week of June, will be early enough to plant, but
this must depend on the weather ; in a forward season they might
be put out in the middle of May. It must be remembered that
they produce an effect at once, so they may well be kept under cover
until all the ordinary bedding is finished, as they will all the time be
increasing in size.
C. escidentum. — The most robust of all ; it produces huge cordate
leaves a yard long, and of a fine sombre green colour. Planted
singly or in small groups, it is a most noble subject. The roots must
be taken up in the autumn and placed in dry sand, and kept dry
and safe from frost till March ; then to be started to grow in a light
rich soil in a moist heat of 70\
C. cuchlorum. — This is a very fine species, with large leaves of a
.-deep green colour. Four or five plants put a yard apart make a
beautiful group. Take up the roots in autumn, keep them in sand
all winter, and start in heat in March.
0. cueullatum. — The grandest and most fast growing of all, but
a trifle more tender than C. esculentam, and therefore not likely to
do so well if the season should not be favourable.
C. violaceum. — A pretty stuall-growing kind, with purplish leaves,
well adapted to make an edging to large beds of caladiums, or to
mix with other plants in flower beds.
HARDY AND XEAELT HAEDY PALMS.
It is not exactly a, new discovery that many palms may be placed
out of doors for the embellishment of the English flower garden, but
attention has only lately been seriously drawn to the subject, and I
venture to believe that my humble pen'has contributed somewhat to
this happy result. It should be known far and wide that one of the
noblest palms in the world, Chammrojjs Fortmici, is quite hardy in
the southern districts of England, and that there is a superb specimen
of it five feet high planted out on a bank in the Eoyal Botanic
Gardens, Regent's Park, and which has braved the winters unpro-
tected for seven years past. Of all the sub-tropical plants adapted
for English gardens, Chama^rops Fortunei, or Fortune's hardy
Chinese Palm, is perhaps the most truly valuable, because it may be
planted out like a Yucca — and what a grand companion for winter
effect to Yucca recurva ! — and remain a permanent ornament and one
of the most dignified forms of vegetation it is possible to imagine.
"With the exception of this species, which may be planted out in a
sheltered spot in any garden south of Nottingham, the palms must
he used as temporary occupants of the parterre, and the safest way
to deal with tliem is to plunge them in their pots. To grow a
'eollection for the purpose does not demand a great outlay, or long
THE FLORAL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 6^^'
tried skill. The selection should be confined to such as are nearly
hardy, and of wliich a list is given below. All these plants thrive m
a good loamy soil, containing plenty of fibre and siliceous grit, and
they are gratefid for tlie addition of a small proportion of quite
rotten manure. It is necessary to repot them every year, but
they need not always be put into larger pots ; in many cases the
same pot will do several seasons in succesjdon, but the process of
repotting is intended to provide them with a change of soil. When
this repotting is performed, they should be turned out of their pots
and a good deal of the old soil should be removed from their roots ,-
they should then be placed again in the same pots, or in pots a size
larger. If the old pots are used let them be well scrubbed, or, if
they can be baked for an hour — a thing convenient enough in some
gardens — it will render them quite sweet fur the use of the plants
again. The potting must be done with care, and a few nodules of
charcoal should be placed over the crocks. This is one part of the
treatment about which there is no mystery. Another part is to give
them abundance of water while growing ; that is easily done, but if
it is not done the growth will be poor, and the plants will decline in
beauty. The third and last point is to house them in October in a
light airy house, where there is heat enough to keep out frost, and
there treat them as other greenhouse plants are treated, especially in
respect of giving water, for the colder the weather the less they
must have. During the recent severe weather some plants of
-Latania Boicrhonica and Chamcerojjs humilis have been subjected
to 8' of frost, but are quite unhurt. At the same time, I would
defend the greenhouse palms from frost if possible.
Charnosrojjs Fortunei. — A grand palm, quite hardy in the southern
and western parts of England. It should be planted in a sheltered
spot, to protect its leaves from damage by winds ; and, if possible, on*
a slope, to prevent injury by lodgments of water during winter.
Any good soil will suit it ; the fine plant at Regent's Park is in a
very bad sample of London mould.
Chamcerops liumilis. — This very handsome "fan palm" is in-
valuable for the conservatory and for plant cases. In cultivation it
needs only one care, and that is the most perfect drainage, for if
for any length of time soddeued with water it will die. It is so •
abundant in some parts of xllgeria as to prevent the cultivation of
the land, for the rude ploughs of the Arabs are unable to cut
through this "weed." The Algerian farmers have lately discovered
how to remove it, and that is by flooding the land with water ; so
irrigation, which is needed for the rice and other crops proper to the
climate, will efi:ect a clearance of this weed from the soil.
Chaiiwrops e.vccha, C. Ghieshreighfii, C, sinensis, and C. tomcn-
tosa, are also good palms for the flower garden, and to keep through
winter in a greenhouse.
Latania Bourhonica. — This magnificent palm is so nearly hardy
that it is one of the first that an amateur in love witli such things
should purchase. It is very cheap, and grows sufiiciently fast to
make a specimen in a few years.
Areca Bauerii and A. sapida are two species of " cabbage palm,"
70 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.:
well adapted for the summer garden, and needing a warm (jreenJiouse
in winter.
Brahea dulcis and B. nohiUs are fine palms from Mexico, nearly
hardy.
Ghamcedorca atrovirens^ C. eJegans, and C. Vemcliajfeltiana need
the warm greenhouse, yet are pretty hardy. Give them a rich soil,
say one-fourth, or even one-third well-rotted manure, and abundance
of water all the summer.
Cocos australis and C. campestris are two of the cocoa-nut palms,
extraordinarily beautiful, and easy to keep in a cool house all winter.
Coryplia australis^ a pretty fan palm, and a good companion to
€]iam<Erops humilis. Gj'Ow it in a mixture of peat, yellow loam,
and silver sand, equal parts of each. It is well adapted for the
dinner-table.
Phanix dacti/Ufera and P. humilis are hardy species of the date
palm. They will be satisfied with greenhouse treatment.
8abal Adansonii, S. palmetto. — The first of these is a remarkable
plant, well adapted for the dinner-table or the window, as also for
a fine vase in the garden ; indeed, it is one of the best uses of the
palms out of doors to put them in urns and vases, a grand change
from the cauliflower shaped crowds of flowers we usually see in
such receptacles. Try a fan palm in a vase, bedding the pot in
green moss, or even in cocoa-nut fibre, and, unless you have already
studied this matter, the result will be a discovery, a new pleasure,
a surprise, a sensation, a new key to the kingdom (or queendom) of
beauty. The Palmetto palm was a distinguishing ornament of the
tropical department of the Crystal Palace, previous to the late
disastrous fire. Many readers will remember that it stood at the
extreme end of the building, on a raised circular bed, which was
surfaced with Lycopodium. Eecall its appearance, and then in
imagination transfer it to the garden, and } ou will have some idea
-of the sort of decorations that are possible in England.
Seoforthia elegans. — An elegant but decidedjy rustic plant, com-
paratively hardy. S. robusta is eminently handsome, and an in-
teresting palm.
Thrinax parviflora is a good representative of this genus for the
parterre.
TENDEE PALMS.
Caryota urens. — This is the " wine palm ;" very distinct in habit,
well adapted for sub-tropical displays, and needing a cool part of the
stove or intermediate house all the winter.
Cliamcedorea elatior. — A fine Mexican palm, which appears to
need a rather warm berth all the winter; but, when plunged out for
the summer, does well.
There are many more that will serve the same purpose, but it is
not desirable to enumerate all that can be thought of. The general
opinion is that palms are too costly for any except the wealthiest
cultivators. This is a mistake, for a collection of small specimens
showing the respective beauties of each may be obtained for a ^ew
pounds. Tor example, I have lately received from Messrs. Hooper
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 71
and Co., of the Central Avenue, Covent Garden, London, a circular
announcing cheap plants of tlie following: Chainaerops hu"^ilis,
Coeos audtralis, Cocoa campestria, Corypha australis, Latania Bour-
bonica, Sabal xldansonii, and Sabal Palmetto, the prices ranging from
3s. to lOi'. each, or one plant of each all round (seven in all) for 285.
Now, with palms at such a price, who can resist the temptation to
infuse this new, this superb element into the system of decorations
of the English garden ? I shall not attempt to reply, but shall be
content with having pointed the readers of the Floral Would to a
region of beauty that perhaps many of them have not dreamt of
before.
A FEW OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE FLOWERIXa
BEDDERS.
[HERE are so many thousands of varieties of bedding plants
in cultivation, that amateurs may well be perplexed in
attempting to make choice amongst them. Hiving
for many years past made it a practice to visit and
carefully in^j^ect all the great parks and gardens where
bedding is carried out with the greatest spirit, and having several
large families of bedders always under my eye, I can, perhaps, as
well as anybody, direct attention to a few of the most useful bedding
plants obtainable for gardens. Something towards this was at-
tempted last months in the short scrap on variegated-leaved bedders
(p. 49). I shall now enumerate a few of the most telling fluwers.
Calceolarias. — Bird of Paradise and Canariensis are the two
best in cultivation, not only for effect, but for withstanding the
various assaults to whicli calceolarias are subjected when planted out,
especially drou<i-ht- Some of our readers may remember an account
we have somewhere given of an experiment with calceol irias. They
were planted in a mixture of one-half mellow loam and the other
half thoroughly rotted maniu'e. They grew luxuriantly and flowered
superbly, and continued good till far into September. This was
last year (1866), when there was a general failure of the plant, and
many gardens were completely spoiled in respect o\' colouring by the
loss of yellow. The following are also good : — Aiirca Jloribumla,
dwarf and bright ; Tom Thumb, gold yellow, very dwarf; Prince of
Orange, brownish orange ; Amplexicaulis, tall and pale yellow. This
last is of great value when skilfully used ; it requi,red to be dwarfed,
it may be pegged down.
Daulias. — The following are the best four bedding varieties: —
Queen of Whites, the best white ; Duke of Newcastle j yellow ;
Scarlet Tom Thicmh, scarlet ; Crimson Gem, fine crimson. It is im-
possible to have dahlias in flower early in the season ; to do them
well requires ample space, an open, sunny position, and a free but
not over-rich loamy soil.
Geraniums. — The best Scarlets are Cyhister, Black Dwarf, and
Kate Anderson. The best Pink are Christine and Wiltshire Lass.
The best Red are Rebecca and Lady Middleton. The best Salmon
72 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
are H. W. Longfellow and Eugenie Mezard. The best Crimson are
Bival Stella (this has plain green leaves, and flowers very abun-
dantly ; it is every way fir^st-rate), Le Grand, and Crimson Queen.
The best AVhite is White Perfection. The following new varieties
are splendid in quality, and should be secured as quickly as possible
by all cultivators of bedding plants : — Duchess of Sutherland, rosy
purple ; Lady Constance Grosvenor, brilliant orange scarlet ; Chris-
tine Nosegay, true Christine colour, and habit similar to Stella ;
Warrior, rich scarlet.
Yaeiegated-leaved Geraniums. — The best AVhite-edged are
Floicer of Spring and Silver Chain. The best Creamy-edged are
Variegated Stella and United Ltaly. The best Gold-leaved are Cloth
of Gold and Luna. The last-named is richer in efl:ect than Mrs.
Pollock, and very much easier to multiply and manage. For abun-
dant flowering, and tolerably good variegation. Variegated Nosegay is
wortli having ; the flowers are a cheerful rose-pink colour.
Petunias. — Loveliness, blush with red stripes ; Ariel, white with
purple stripes ; Chancellor, blush barred with purple ; Nellie, pure
white striped crimson; Purple Ledder, fine purple. Petunias
require a fresh, light, rather rich soil.
Yeebenas. — Alhert Tellandier, intense carmine ; Fire Brigade,
crimson scarlet, withstands drought, and will thrive in a poor soil ;
Azurea superha, cobalt blue ; Junius, deep orange, a very curious
variety, quite good and capable of important services ; La Grande
JBoide de Neige, the best white ; Lord Clifden, scarlet ; King of
JBedders, crimson red, fragrant ; Lord Raglan, carmine.
Teopjeolums. — The " cpmpactum" section comprises some
eminently useful varieties, iar in advance of all others as bedders.
The best are Compactum Luteurn improved, yellow, with numerous
spots ; King of Scarlets, Scarlet Gem, and King of Spots, yellow and
amber.
Convolvulus Maubitanicus. — The habit of which closely
resembles that of our little native wayside convolvulus ; the flowers
are a charming shade of lilac. It is not a showy plant, but intensely
pretty, and a capital relief to garish colours.
Gazania splendens is undoubtedly the best of the Gazanias,
and a truly splendid bedder. It will flower well in a poor sandy
soil, but it must have a sunny position. The charming contrast
between its bluish and half glaucous foliage and its splendid orange
flowers, is most delightful.
Heliotropes. — Beauty of the Boudoir and Miss Nightingale are
the best of this class for beds.
Lantanas. — These are rather tender, and require a hot season
to bring them out well. On cold damp soils they are of little use.
The most generally useful are Fulgens mutahilis and Crocec^
superha.
Nieeembergia gracilis makes a charming mass of pretty
white flowers, to tone down the eftect of strong colours.
(Enothera prostrata makes a capital yellow bedder on cold
damp soils. S. H.
THE AET OF INCREASIXCI PLAIS^TS BY CUTTJXaS.
^T far the greater proportion of plants tbat are multiplied
by cuttings require artificial heat. Nevertheless, cut-
tings of many tender plants may be struck in the open
ground, or in pots and in frames, without heat, and in
every case the mode of procedure is nearly the same.
The object of this paper is more particularly to put beginners in the
way of spring propagation, a branch of horticultural practice which
has acquired immense importance since gardening has become con-
tracted to an almost exclusive adoption of the bedding system.
Very much of what we have to say will be applicable to summer
propagation without artificial lieat, though our business is more
directly with the propagation of plants at this time of year by
means of the heat of a tank or a dung-bed. We suppose the heat to
be sufficient and constant. If from fermenting material, there
should be a large body of it in a nicely-tempered state, there is
nothing so good as a tank, for the operator has thus complete com-
mand over his work, and can enjoy the comfort of a warm house
while attending to his duties. As a rule, a bottom-heat of 60' to
70' will suffice for all kinds of bedding-plants that are struck from
cuttings, A temperature of SO' to 90' may be used by persons who
have had much experience, but 70' should be the maximum for
beginners.
How TO Obtaits" Cuttings. — As a rule, plants to be propagated
from at this time of year should be in a free-growing state. We
advise placing old plants of verbenas,
petunias, etc., in a moist heat, in order to
start them for cuttings, because the best
cuttings are those of shoots newly formed,
and the worst those from shoots of last
year. Indeed, these latter are of no use
at all, except in the hands of the profes-
sional propagator, and he would never
choose them while young shoots were
obtainable. If the plants are not freely
growing therefore, the propagator must
wait for them ; and to promote free
growth, the temperature of the house
should be kept at from GO' to 70", with a
moderate amount of atmospheric moisture,
and as much light as possible, so that the
young shoots will be of a healthy green,
and with short joints. But at this time
of year, the plants the amateur intends to
cut from will be for the most part full of young shoots,
removal of a crop of these will cause the plants to throw out more,
and the question arises, how are the cuttings to be made ?
Suppose we look over a lot of fuchsias now, we shall find them
full of little stubby side-shoots all ready to hand, without demand-
Fig. 1.
and the
74
THE FLORAL WORLD AKD GARDEN' GUIDE,
ing any particular skill to remove tliem. Select one of these plump
sboots, of an inch or an inch and a half long, press the thumb
against it, and it will snap away " with a heel" — that is, with a
thickened ba^e, the separation taking place at the point where it
issues out of the old wood. When you have removed it, it will
probablv have such an appearance as in Fig. ]. All that this re-
quires "for its preparation is to remove the bud wliich has just
started near the base of the
cutting, so as to leave a
sufficient length of clear
stem to insert the cutting
in sand firmly. When so
inserted, and kept moist,
warm, and shaded, roots
will soon be formed at the
base, and as soon as the
roots have begun to run in
search of nourishment the
top of the shoot will begin
to gj'ow, which is the sign
for potting off. But sup-
pose we have a chrysanthe-
mum instead of a fuchsia.
This will have a mass of
tender shoots rising from
the root, and there is no
need to seek to take these
off with a heel. With a
knife, a pair of scissors, or
the thumb-nail, remove a
small shoot of not more
than three inches in length
— two inches will be sufficient. This will probably have some such
aspect as in Fig, 2, All the preparation this requires is the removal
of the lower leaf, to make a sufficient length of clear stem for insert-
ing it in silver sand. Or suppose we have a hard-wooded plant of
robust growth, and which is known to be easily rooted, then we
may venture to take a still larger cutting. Here is a side-shoot of
Veronica Lindleyana (Fig. 3) ; it consists of four joints, is young,
the wood not yet hardened, and needs no preparation at all, because
there is a proper length of stem for its insertion. But in the case
of plants having large fleshy leaves, it may sometimes be needful to
crop ofi' half of every leaf except those next the top bud; but, as a
rule, as many leaves should be allowed to remain as possible, because
the more leaves that can be kept alive while the cutting is making
roots, the quicker will it become a plant. No definite rule can be
given on this head to guide the inexperienced. It all depends upon
how many leaves can be kept alive. If the cuttings are to enjoy a
brisk heat, say 70', with plenty of atmospheric moisture, then nearly
all the leaves may be left entire, and especially if the cut ings are in
a close propagating frame, or under bell-glasses. But if they are
Fig. 2.
THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GARDEN GriDE.
75
likely to be exposed to draughts, if they are placed in pots or pans
in an ordinary greenhouse, and thus much subjected to evaporation,
the leaves must be reduced in mimber, and all the larger ones must
be cut half away.
Another matter of importance in making cuttings is to determine
whether they are to be rooted from a joint or not. Most cultivators
prefer to cut the shoot close under a joint, so as to obtain roots
from that joint. But there is no occasion to cut to a joint; any
and every one of the plants ordinarily propagated at this time of
year will root as quickly from the " interuode" — that is, the portion
of stem intermediate betw^een two joints — as from the joints them-
selves. This is of great
importance when cuttings
are scarce, as a shoot will
often furnish half-a-dozen
cuttings, if taking them
at a joint is of no conse-
quence ; and only one or
two, perhaps, if taking
them at a joint is impera-
tive.
The size of the cut-
tings is a matter of great
importance. As a rule,
the smaller they are the
better. Still, if very soft,
many may damp off unless
very skilfully handled, so the amateur must
secure them moderately firm. Three or four
joints will generally suffice of most things, or
say nice plump shoots of from one to two
inches long. If young side-shoots are scarce,
longer shoots may be cut up in lengths of
three joints ; and if it is a question of raising
the largest possible number of plants from
the fewest cuttings, then one joint and its
accompanying leaf v.ill suffice. Suppose we
have a shoot of a verbena placed in our hands
to make the most of it ; we should first cut it
into as many lengths as there were joints,
leaving each leaf untouched, and to every
joint as much stem as could be got by cutting
just over instead of just under the joints.
Then with a sharp knife we should split each
of these joints in half, so as to have one bud
and leaf to each split portion, and from every one of these we
should expect a good plant. We say nothing now of propagating
from leaves, etc., because we are writing for beginners, and all the
.higher departments of propagating are from time to time dealt with
in these pages as occaj^ion renders necessary.
Potting the Cuttings. — The most convenient way of dis-
76 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
posing of tlie cuttings is to dibble them into shallow pans filled
with wet silver-sand, as i'ast as they are prepared. The best way
for those who may have to leave the cuttings in the pans for any time
after they have formed roots, is to prepare the pans with crocks lor
drainage, and over the crocks to spread an inch of chopped moss or
peat torn up into small shreds, or cocoa-nut fibre dust, and then fill
up to the brim with clean silver- sand. The sand should be quite
wet when the cuttings are inserted; and when they have been
regularly dibbled in with the aid of a bit of stick, or with the
fingers only, it should be placed where there is a bottom -heat of
G0= to 70'. A temperature of 80^ is allowable when time is an
object, but at 60" better plants may be grown; in fact, there is
generally too much heat used. From the time of putting the cut-
tings in heat till they begin to grow, the temperature must be
steady, and there must be regular supplies of water. But water
given carelessly will surely entail losses. Probably the sand will
retain sufficient moisture for eight or ten days, without needing to
be wetted beyond what reaches it in the process of dewing the
leaves. To dew the leaves neatly and timely is one of the most
important matters. Por the amateur to whom a few minutes is no
object, the best way is to dip a hard brush in water, then hold the
brush beside the cuttings, and draw the hand briskly over it. This
causes a fine spray to be deposited on the leaves, to prevent flag-
ging ; but if the water is given from the rose of a watering-pot, the
cuttings, if small, may be washed out of their places, or may be made
too wet.
Maxims ox Peopagatixg. — The more heat, the more moisture
may be allowed, and, vice versa, the less heat, the less moisture.
Hence, if the heat of the dung-bed declines, or if there come cold
weather, at once reduce the supplies of moisture. On the other
liand, give water freely if the heat is steady and the cuttings
are beginning to grow, which is invariably a sign that they have
roots.
Pot them ofii as soon as possible after they have formed roots.
In potting, be careful not to break the newly-formed roots. No
matter what the plants are, the soil at the first potting should be
fine, and with a considerable proportion of silver-sand added. Grene-
rally peat and leaf-mould answer admirably as a staple for potting
newly-struck cuttings.
Pot in small pots ; there is nothing gained by putting the young
plants in large pots at first ; the soil gets sour before they can root
into it. AVhen a few cuttings are struck in common pots, place
them next the side of the pot all round.
If the heat can be regulated at w^ll (as in propagating by means
of hot water), begin at (50' ; after three or four days, increase the
heat 5', in three or four days another 5^, and so on, never passing
75' or 80', and better to stop at 70°. Too quick a growth results in
weakness to the plant.
Cuttings damping ofi" may often be saved by sprinkling silver-
sand or peat-dust previously dried in an oven, over the surface of
the pans. If mildew appears, give air, and dust the leaves with
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 77
sulphur. Whenever damp breaks out, increase the heat, and give
more air.
Do not keep cuttings shut up close any longer than can be
helped. Give air as soon as they are able to bear it ; of course, very
little at first, and with great care not to chill them.
After potting, place the pots in bottom-heat, if possible, to pro-
mote the formation of fresh roots. Xsver shift till the first pots are
full of roots ; then shift without delay, and use the compost proper
to the plant. S. H.
CULTUEE OF THE GLOBE AMAEAXTHUS.
T,Y .T. CALVERT CLARKE.
HESE are generally catalogued as half-hardy annuals,
but they are extremely tender for that class of plants ;
but for indoor decoration they are desirable subjects,
and the fact that they are everlastings makes them still
more desirable, as when they are cut at the proper time
they will last in good condition for bouquets up to Christmas, and
later. But apfirt from these considerations, it is equally important
to the gardener that he should have varietyo It would be no difii-
cult task to make a display even with only one or two members of a
genus. But there would be about such an arrangement so much,
sameness, that it would have no attraction even for people indifferent
about flowers. Therefore, to carry out this system of gardening
with any spirit, it is essential that as great a variety as possible
should be got together, and the Globe Amaranthus is well worthy
to join the ranks. There are, I believe, as many as six colours
amongst them ; but, for myself, I consider the four following colours
all that are desirable to grow : — White, Eed, Golden, and Elesh-
colour. To flower in August and September, they should be sown
in light sandy soil, about the end of March, on bottom-heat. When
the plants are large enough to handle, prick out three round the
rim of a 60-size pot, in a soil composed of loam, leaf-soil, and rotten
dung, equal parts. For this potting use silver-sand liberally. For
the after shifts use river-sand or road-grit abundantly ; place them
as^ain on bottom-heat for a fortnight ; after which remove them to a
warm shelf in a vinery or intermediate house. Give them one shift
into a five-inch pot early in June, and then remove them to a pit
where they can be kept close for a few days. In this structure you
can give them liberal culture, as you can give them any amount of
air you please, and they require a good deal. You can shade them,
if necessary, but, above all, by economizing sun-heat, you can con-
vert your pit into a stove for the time being, and so give them the
sort of treatment they require. But here I must leave much of the
after-treatment to the discretion of the cultivator, as so much will
depi'ud upon the result aimed at as to the number of shifts, etc.
But I may remark here, that large shifts are their abomination, and
78 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
I can tell you wliy — because the roots positively refuse to work in
a soil that has become soddened and sour round the sides of a large
pot. Give them^ therefore, small shifts, that they may have a fresh,
sweet soil to feed upou, and you may grow them to any size you
like, providing you do not overdo them with water w hen they don't
want it. Make a few mistakes in this matter, and you will be
rewarded for your pains by seeing the most healthy amongst your
plants dwindle away and die. For the benefit of your youn^
readers, I will remark that the chief secret of success in cultivating
them is a rich, open, porous soil, and only just as much water as they
can appropriate without its hanging about in the soil any number of
hours afterwards. . _
THE DAISY.
All hail! to the fairest star of the earth,
Tlie daisy, beloved of old ;
So modest and lowly it comes to its birth,
When winds whistle hollow and cold.
In its beauty it shines on the mountain side,
When the furze and the heather blooms glow ;
And it glitters in sunshine, and grows in its pride,
Where the water- brooks tumble and flow.
It glows on the bedire bank, and in the green brake,
And under the shade of the trees,
In the clefts o' the rock, where it gleams in the wake
Of the fierce beating mountainous breeze.
In every m adow, and cranny, and nook.
Where'er there's an inch of soil,
It preaches its homilies better than book,
To the sons and the daughters of toil.
Under Donningtons' oaks, in times of yore,
Old Giiaucer in joy would recline,
To g:ize on the daisy, and drink in its store
Of wisdom and beauty sublime.
For the heart of the poft was warmed into love,
When he gazed on its starlighted form ;
And his soul was illumined with light from alxjve^
When he saw it at earliest dawn.
So the bare? of the North — the hero of toil,
By its bloom was enraptured and blessed,
Feeling proud that old Scotia's heather-clad soil
Had a gem so endeared and caressed.
With the heart of a man, he could yet shed a tear.
For the blossoms de<tr yed by his plough ;
For it taught him that tr<iuble, and sorrow, and fear,
Mixst fall on each humble brow.
Then I'll cherish the daisy, the daisy for me.
With its wee little star made of snow ;
'Mid the mosses and gr; sses so gaily and free,
Doth it merrily, bonnily grow.
'Tis the flower of home, and 'twill blossom again ;
Whatever our fate may befall ;
Bringing promise of sunshine and joy in its train.
And a blessing for each and for all.
CULTIVATION OF EHUBAEB FOR EAELY SUPPLIES.
BY J. F. M'ELROT.
;HEEE are various ways of forcing rhubarb, and it scarcely
matters what method is adopted ; warmth and darkness
are the two essentials. It is sometimes stated that
rhubarb should be forced in full daylight. This I do
not a^ree with, for that forced in the dark has quite
colour enough, and while it is deficient of the excessive acid which
characterizes rhubarb grown in the open air, it has a delicious mild
buttery flavour whi^^h every cultivated palate will appreciate.
Many place large seakale pots over the roots as they are planted
in the open ground, and then cover the pots with a quantity of hot
manure ; but the common practice adopted by those who supply the
markets is to dig up a quantity of roots, and plant them in ranges
of pits, the same being heated by linings of hot manure or hot-water
pipes. After they have yielded the required crop, the roots are
thrown aside as useless, only selecting such crowns as may be useful
for division in the formation of new plantations. The common
practice among gardeners, if they dig up the roots for forcing, is to
select the largest and oldet^t ; the consequence is, that the stalks,
though abundant, are small, and very deficient in general qualities ;
and very often, whep they have done their work of production in
the forcing pit, they are again planted in the ground for the pur-
pose of attbrding a crop in the ensuing year. The plan which I
believe will render the most satisfaction, both in its cultivation for
open-air production, as well as in its preparation for early forcing,
is as follows : — At this period of the year, having prepared a plot of
ground that has been well trenched and manured, with a spade
divide a root or a portion into separate parts, no matter how small ;
in fact, the smaller the better, if you but retain a healthy eye to
each. Let them be planted singly, two feet every way. From eyes
planted at this season I have pulled stalks in the following autumn,
though this plan is advisable only where a quick supply is urgently
required, as it would lessen the ensuing year's production by check-
ing their growth. Let the stalks remain till they have fulfilled
their functions of aidiug in the enlargement of the crowns, after
which they will decay. If you adopt annual planting as recom-
mended, on however small a ^cale, it will be advantageous both in
productiveness as well as flavou!", combined with earliness and size
of stalks ; and two-year-old roots will be found to be most preferable
for forcing. The following three varieties, as grown by myself,
afford their produce in succession as numbered : — First, Prince
Albert, fine and very early ; second, Linnteus, an excellent flavour,
good for preserving; third, Victoria, its principal quality consists in
size. As soon as the stalks commence pushing, cover them with
pots ; it will quicken their growth, and contribute to their flavour
and colour. If you have not the latter requisite at your command,
lightly cover them with long litter, fixing a stick in to mark the spot,
that they may not be trampled on.
80
EOSES rOE 1867.
EY W. D. PEIOJl.
|HAT a widely-difFused passion is the love of novelty !
How many blemishes it varnishes over, and how many
beauties it discovers which disappear alike before the
touchstone of possession. This passion induces our
moclern ladies, as it did their ancestresses in all ages,
to adopt any enormity of fashion, however outre and unbecoming,
provided it is new ; and it must be confessed that their brothers and
husbands are little behind them in the avidity with which they
pursue their hobbies when fresh things are concerned. We of the
rose world are especial victims to the impulse of running after and
buying new roses, when we already, in most cases, possess something
superior, as we discover after we have parted with enthusiasm as
well as cash. The season of new roses is now fairly set in, and
where the propagation has been early and successful, many of
them will soon be in bloom. "With respect to these, March is
the best month for purchasing, though May is the best, on the
whole, for turning out ; the interval between selection and planting
out, should be devoted to a gradual hardening off of the plants,
when few will turn out unsatisfactorily.
The following well-selected list of the continental novelties sent
out by Mr. John leaser, embraces the most promising ; if amateurs
speculate in them all, it will only be a due encouragement of that
enterprise, without which there can be no improvement.
HYBEID PEEPETUALS.
Alba Carnea (Touvnis), white, liglitl}- tinijed with rose, the under side of the
petals pure white, the flowers are of medium size and heautifully formed, habit
moderately vigorous.
Antoine DiicJier (Ducher), brilliant red, very large, double, and superbly formed,
robust and vigorous habit. A seedling from l\Iadame Domage
Charles Verdier (Guillot pere), fine rose colour, with whitish edges, very large,
very doitble, and well formed, habit very vigorous. A seedling from the esteemed
variety Victor Verdier.
C'omie Litta (E. Verdier), brilliant velvety purple, edged with violet, growth
vigorous, flowei's larg^", fall, and well foimed, having large undulating petals.
Comtesse Felicie Morqucs (Pernet), brilliant rosy red, the centre petals edged
with white, habit robust, flowers large and full. A seedling: from Victor Verdier.
Evgejte Scribe (Gautreau), brilliant dazzling red, extra large, full, and well
fonned, gi'owth very vigorous.
Francoise Treyve (Liabaud), fine deep shining scarlet, quite a new colour, lage
and double, very vigorous grower.
Gloire de Ifonplaisir (Gounod), lively red, large double, and of excellent form,
habit very vigorous and free flowering.
Horace Vernet (Guillot fils), velvety reddish purple, shaded with deep crimson,
flowers of extra size, with very large petals, making a very effective appearance on
the plant, a vigorous grower.
Madame Anna Bugnet (Gounod), tinted white, changing to marbled rose, large,
full, and imbricated, a vigorous grower, producing large clusters of flowers.
Madame BeUenden Ker (Guillot pere), superb pure white, medium sized, fine,
and double, of moderately vigorous habit.
Madame George Paul (E. Verdier), brilliantly tinted and shaded rose, with
whitish edges, large, full, fine imbricated form, vigorous and distinct.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 81
Madame Rival (Gounod), delicate, satin-like rose, large, double, and well
shaped, habit very vigorous. A seedling from Auguste Mie.
Madeleine Nonin (Ducher), rose, lightly tinged with salmon, medium sized and
very double, flowers excellently formed, habit vigorous, a fine autumnal rose.
Mademoiselle Annie JVood (E. Verdier), clear brilliant red, large, very full, and
perfectly imbricated, habit very robust, a most distinct and remarkable rose.
Mademoiselle Eleanor Grier (E. Verdier), deep rose, large, full, and of perfect
form, fine robust habit.
Mademoiselle Marie de la Villehoisnet (Trouillard), fine delicate rose, very
large, very double, and slightly imbricated, good habit and vigorous grower.
Mademoiselle Jeanne Marix (Liabaud), bright rose marbled with purple, very
large, full, and cup shaped, a remarkably vigorous grower.
Monsieur Chaix d'Est-Ange (Leveque), brilliant vermilion red, large, full, and
excellently formed, a vigorous grower and profuse bloomer.
^ Monsieur Xoman (Guillot pere), delicate rose colour, the edges of the petals
being almost white, large and double, a good grower and abundant bloomer. A
seedling from Jules Margottin.
Monsieur Thiers (Trouillard), fine brilliant red, large and very double, the outer
petals very regular, those towards the centre slightly incurved, good habit.
Xapoleon III. (E. Verdier), brilliant scarlet and deep violet, large and double,
a very distinct and remarkably rich rose, fine robust habit.
Paul Verdier (C Verdier), magnificent bright rose colour, large, full, and per-
fectly imbricated form, vigorous habit, producing several fine flowers on a branch.
Souvenir de Mons Roll (Boyan), fine reddish cerise, richly tinged or shaded, a
large and beautifully formed rose, making a vigorous and very efi'ective plant.
Thorin (Lacharme), pure brilliant rose, large,, full, and of excellent form, habit
remarkably robust.
TEA. SCENTED.
Bouton d' Or (Guillot fils), superb deep yellow, reverse of petals white, medium
sized double fl.owers, an excellent variety, with a fine stjde of growth.
Isabella Sprunt (Verschaffelt), delicate yellow, lighter towards the edges of the
petals, good habit, and very free.
Madame Bremont (Guillot fils), fine reddish purple, varying to deep purple,
large and double, vigorous habit and fine style of growth, very distinct.
Madame Margottin (Guillot fils), fine deep citron yellow with rosy peach
centre, the edges of the petals white, flowers of good size, very full, and rather
globular ; this is a most distinct variety, of vigorous and pleasing liabit.
Monsiettr Furtado (Laffay), bright sulphur yellow, medium size, very double,
and well formed, a hardy and vigorous grower.
BOUEBON.
(Eillet Flamand (Ogar), brilliant rose, delicately striped with pure white, a
medium sized compact and double flower, habit robust, quite a distinc: variety.
We ought to obtain some valuable as well as new kinds out of
the above. For instance, a brilliant red Madame Domage would be
something uncommonly desirable, nor ought a seedling from that
beautiful but uncertain rose Auguste Mie, to be despised, par-
ticularly if superior in constitution. It is a feature worthy of
remark that there are more light coloured kinds tnan have appeared
for some years among the novelties for 1867 ; indicating a change
in breeding strains from the perpetual " Jacqueminot " blood.
Among the raisers G-uillot pere, the two Yerdiers, and Lacharme
are most likely to exhibit the best productions. Thorin, of the
latter, reads highly promising. Jules Margottin also figures as a
parent, its progeny ought never to be lost sight of; Victor Verdier
is, as it were, at present, on trial.
CLa'pton.
VOL. II. — NO. III. 6
PLEOPELTIS MEMBKANACEA.
FERNS AND PERN CASES.
UR last notes on this subject appeared at page 241 of the
volume for 1865. We have now completely given up
the use of hot water, and all the case ferns are subjected
to cool treatment. This answers far better than could
have been anticipated. It seems as if the most tender
stove fern would bear with equanimity the temperature of a case of
large size without artificial aid ; and it must be remembered that
the larger the case, the more equable is its temperature within, ri^ng
slowly to the maximum of the air without, and in like manner falling
slowly to the minimum. I have already enumerated some sixty fine
ferns that are admirably adapted for cases, and I re-open the subject
by referring to
Pleopeltis membeaxacea. — This is understood to be one of the
most tender ferns in cultivation, and it is undoubtedly one of the
most beautiful. There is not one in the collection that bears cool
treatment more patiently than this, and it makes fronds annually,
measuring eighteen to twenty-four inches in length. The growth
of last year, in a 48-sized pot, continued quite green until destroyed
by the frost of January last, when, in spite of covering the bed-
room case with carpets, three or four degrees of frost got in. This
fern has a slowly creeping rhizoma, from which proceed entire, thin,
nearly stalkless fronds of a most delicate membranaceous texture.
When seen against the light, they are pellucid, and of a delicate
green colour, and not much unlike, in colour and texture, the leaf of
a lettuce. When the fruit appears, the fronds are highly orna-
mental, the sori being disposed in regular rows, and of a bright
orange colour. Unfortunately, the artist took, by mistake, a couple
of barren fronds for the annexed sketch, which would have been far
more effective if one of them had been in fruit.
Pleopeltis teeminalis is a first-rate case fern, and merits par-
ticular attention from possessors of good cases, for it takes the same
place in the case that Drijnaria querclfolia and Tleopeltis phyviatodes
do in the stove. Its shining, deep green, eh-gintly-cut fronds
render it very distinct, and it forms a most beautiful specimen.
Pleopeltis lycopodioides. — A pretty little fern, with creep-
ing rhizomas and small strap-shaped fronds, of a glossy deep green.
It is one of the best for planting in a cocoa-nut shell for suspending.
Pleopeltis pustulata. — A small fern ; some of the fronds
divided into half-inch wide tapering divisions ; others entire, and
strap-shaped. It extends rapidly by its creeping rhizomas, and
needs but little care.
ToDEA hymenophylloides. — This much-prized and most deli-
cately-constituted fern is unquestionably one of the best that can be
planted in a case. It loves the close moist air, the subdued light,
the equable temperature, and the perfect stillness. I have lately
parted with a plant which has a stem a foot high, and which I
estimated to be fully one hundred years of age. It is a tree fern,
but at the utmost makes but a small tree. When put in stove
TODEA HTMENOPHTLLOIDES.
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 85
heat this fern loses all its beauty ; it cannot, in fact, be kept too
cool, provided it is safe from frost. To be exposed to a draught of
air even a few minutes will destroy all the beauty of a specimen ;
and hence it is well, when it is grown as a window plant, to keep it
covered with a bell-glass. The soil for it may be the same as for
•other ferns, but with a small quantity of powdered brick or pot-
sherds intermingled.
We have adopted pot culture throughout now, both because
aftording room for a greater variety of plants, and for increased con-
venience and entertainment. The pots are plunged in cocoa-nut
fibre, and are always clean, and each plant can have the exact treat-
ment it requires. It is but proper to say, however, that pot culture
was forced upon us, for the cases became water-logged, aud the soil
sour and pasty, as I long ago foresaw it would do, in cases so con-
structed that removal of surplus water is impossible. The pot
system is a great gain to those who wish to grow as many varieties
as possible ; and as any fern can be lifted out for examination, there
is increased entertainment to make amends for the loss of the pic-
turesque scene that may be created when they are all planted out.
I hope to continue these notes again, as in former times.
S. H.
THE ELOWEEIXa OF THE YUCCA EOR THE PUEPOSE
OF DISPLAY.
BY .T. WILLIAMS, OP BATH LOCaE, OEMSKIRK.
iJN' looking over, the other evening, the list of succulents
in the " Garden Oracle" for 1861', I was much struck
with the following : " Yucca. — Of this noble genus of
lilyworts, A. filamentosa is certainly the hardiest and
the handsomest. They are all handsome, and the first
to be procured are filaraentosa, gloriosa," etc. I have much pleasure
in endorsing every word of the paragraph from which the above
quotations are taken, and having had the boldness of lately defend-
ing this noble plant from its being stigmatized as " the worst yucca,"
the corroboration has induced me to say a few words on its manage-
ment. " Adam's Needle and Thread," as the plant is popularly
called, is, when well managed, handsome at all seasons, and glorious
in bloom. A good plant in bloom may be seen a quarter of a mile
off; and in the dead of winter, a good clump of this fine plant, with
its broad, drooping, pine-apple-looking foliage, copiously fringed
with white filaments, has a decidedly tropical appearance. But the
plant is rarely seen well managed ; and the reason is this — the
plant, after flowering, dies down, and perpetuation is dependent on
a colony of suckers which spring up around the old plant, each
striving for the mastery, and, when after a year or two, or more,
some favoured sucker gains the ascendancy, perhaps the plant
flowers again. But even in this state the plant is always interesting.
But to insut^e a bloom of this noble plant for clumps on lawns and
other select places, the best method is to grow the plant singly ;
86 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
that is, take every sucker from the plants you wish to bloom.
Given, an old ])lant, as above described, lift it carefully, sort all the
suckers into sizes ; round the base of the strongest will be found a
series of rooted knobs (suckers waiting for development) ; remove
every one of the.^e with a knife, or break them oil', if you choose;
reserve these as the smallest size — you will, perhaps, sort them into
about four sizes ; plant each size by itself in a bed of light rich
sandy earth, or any good soil. It will, perhaps, take three or four
years to biing the strongest to a flowering state. Strength will de-
termine this point, and pbnts that intend flowering have the leaves
in the centre densely imbricated, protecting the embryo iDflorescence.
If a number of such plants could be moved to a prepared bed on a
lawn, or other favoured place, free from wind, they would make
such a dit^play as is rarely seen in garden scenery. The plant is of
the easiest propagation, and a succession easily maintained.
hijsts o^ the cultivation oe gladioli.
BY ETJGENE YERDIEE, ETJE DUNOIS, GAEE d'iTEAT, PAEIS.
HESE plants, the produce of G. gandavensis, itself pro-
ceeding from a hardy species, the G. psittacinus, do not
require much particular care ; common garden earth
will suit them, if previously dug and lightened. They
do not thrive in loamy or clayey soil, generally prosper-
ing best in light sandy soil. Successive planting in the same stuff*,
and in the same place, is extremely pernicious to their prosperity^
and should be avoided ; it is therefore urgent that the place of
growth be changed every year, so as io return to the same bed, but
after three years, during which interval it should be manured with
good horse or cow dung, according to the greater or less dampness
of the soil, using the former for the most damp.
Planting in the open ground should take place in each fortnight
successively from the end of March to June. Prolonged bloom will
thus be obtained, commencing in July and continuing until Novem-
ber. The bulbs collected from the last planting, not having arrived
at perfect maturity, should not be relied upon for the ensuing season.
The size of the bulbs should also be taken into consideration for
the succession of blossoming, as it is notorious that the largest are
not those which produce the finest flowers ; but should they be
planted together, the largest will flower first, the medium next,
then giving place to the smallest. Planting in January in pots of
five inches, placed under cold frames, or under a south wall, covered
with dry leaves to protect them from frost, and afterwards planted
out, when ti^ere is no longer any fear of frost, will enable them to
flower from the month of June ; the bulbs should be placed at a
depth in earth according to their size, the smallest covered by about
one and a half or two inches, while the largest should have about
three inches thick of soil.
Watering should be abundant, if the weather is dry and warm.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 87
The separation of bulbs should be made in autumu, as fast as the
flower-stalks be^^in to get dry, as then the bulbs are perfect and ripe,
their maturity being complete, whilst, if you wait longer, in order to
make the separation of the whole crop at once, the stalks of certain
of the earliest varieties, as well as tliose of the first planting, will
fall and detach themseU^es from the bulbs, w^hich deprived of growth,
in continual contact with the humidity of soil, will quickly be de-
teriorated, and only produce unsound roots unfit for reproduction.
As soon as the separation is efiected, the bulbs should be placed in. a,
dry place, airy, without heat, upon shelves or in cases, not one i^pqii .
the other' and protected from frost, they will then keep well
The flower-stalks, cut and plunged in water, go on flowering, the
buds opening easily in succession ; these blooms, surrounded with
eleo-ant foliage, such as tamarix, or asparagus leaves, etc., make fine
ornamentations for the drawing-room.
bien:n^ial LiFTixa or miniatuiie pruit-teees.
T would be well if all tliose who write fcr' gardening amateurs were
aware of the necessity there is forgiving the most minute instruction?
tiiat can be given for the performance of the different operations thej
recommend, especially those which are at all out of tlie practice of
ordinary workmen— by which I mean workmen as distinguished from,
what are really entitled to be called gardeners. Amateurs are often dependent
on such people, and have only the knowledge they have acquired by readino- to
help out and direct them, and are for that reason sometimes" ptizzled for a lontr time
to know how to execute with ease and expedition operations v,^hi oh appear to prac-
tical gardeners only possible to do in one way, and that the right one. It is indeed
so hard for those wlio have always seen things done as they ought to be, to imao-in^
their being done otherwise, that it would be well, when writing for the press, to try
how a person ignorant of the subject would act according to their directions, so that'
they could add to or alter them accordmglj-.
The occasion of the above observations is the folio winfij experierice of jnj own.
Having merely a good workman for a gardener — a man industrioiiS and liandy
with his spade — I had to depend on my own unassisted comprehension of Mr.
Eivers's directions for the biennial removal of fruit-trees, whose roots reouire more
careful treatment than is given to the thorn quicks, etc., to which my man vras
accustomed, and it was upwards of half-a-dozou seasons before I at last hit itpon a
tolerably easy and expeditious mode of carrying them out, in the case of full-sized
bushes and pyramids. As long as the trees were small, their removal, though
more tedious than it ought to have been, was tolerably easy ; but when, a couple o'S
seasons ago, I commenced operations on a number of strong bush apples on the
crab, four to five feet high, and so much through that they required a cii'cle of
roots two feet radius from the stem to be preserved, it was different. Bearing in
mind Mr. Eivers's directions for the rem.oval of pears and apples—" A trench should
be opened round the stem, the width of a spade, and from twelve to lifteen inches
deep ; the tree should then be raised with the ball of earth attached to its roots
intact;" and likewise those for root-pruning the pear — " A trench should be dug
round the t'-ee, about eighteen inches from its stem," etc. — by which I had hitherto
acted, as far as possible, on smaller trees, and got such a trench dug at two feet
distance from the stem of the tree, intending, of course, in this case, merely to get
up the roots v/ithout a ball, bat was not thereby helped in the least, as the spado
could not be got under the roots across the narrow trench. The next step was to
widen the trench to two spades in width, and from this, with the addition of forking
out the soil from the roots, the job was at last accomplished.
Looking back, from where the tree was planted in another place, at the excava-
tion it came out of, and thinking of the time that had been taken up, I said to my
88 THE FLOKAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
man, "There must surely be some easier method of removing full-sized bushes, or it
would never be practised." ''Yes," -was the response, "there is work there to have
taken up an oak." We tackled tiie next as follows, ily man cut down to the
depth ot his spade, a new No. 2, in that circle of two feet radius from the stem I had
marked out; and then, without making a trench, putting down the spade again, he
dug towards the stem, so that while taking up a spadeful of earth he loosened and
raised the roots for some distance inwards. As, however, those towards the centre
of the ball still remained undisturbed, something more was necessary, and I there-
tore directed him to dig a hole in the form of a V, with the open end towards the
circle of roots, in order to make room for the handle of the spade to be lowered
sufficiently to get the blade under tlie ball, which served the purpose intended ; and
a similar cut being made at the opposite side, the job vv-as accomplished. In this
manner we got through the lot. But the time taken up by eighteen or twenty trees,
near about tliat size (I am afraid to mention it), was such as to force the reflection
upon me, " Xurserymen must surely have soma cleverer modii of taking up good-sized
.iruit-trees without injury to the roots, or they could never live by the business."
The next season, the genius of my man hit upon an improvement upon the last-
■meutioued mode. After I had marked out the circle within wliich the roots were
to be preserved, and he had cut down through it all round, he dug a trench just
inside that circle, putting his spade down among the roots in the line that they
came from the stem. This loosened them so far inward, that ha was afterwards
able to shove his spade under theio, holding the handle about the level of his knee;
•and by doing this in three or four different places, while I helped him by pulling a
little at the opposite side of the stem, we found that v/e could get up the trees with
tolerable ease and expedition. The roots, too, came up almost always uninjured
(I should state the trees had been often biennially removed), as the spade was put
down in the line of their growth. Should it happen that they were so thick, or
twisted, as to make this be otherwise, a fork could be safely used in the same
manner. It thus occurred to me that this Avas what was probably meant by Mr.
Rivers's directions, when he says, "A trench should be dug round the tree, about
eighteen inches from its stem ;" and that it is the outside of his trench, and not the
inside, that is to be at that distance.
With balls or circles of roots of only eighteen-inch radius from the stem, instead
-of two feet, which is the largest that Mr. Rivers speaks of removing, or root-pruning,
with the exception of those of the plums, it was much the same way. Let digging
-a trench of a spade's- width completely oixtside of a circle of roots of this diameter —
'svhich is upwards of a yard, taking the stem into account — be tried, and it will be
found that a spade cannot be lowered sufficiently across the trench to be pushed
beneath the roots, so as to get them up, even operating from both sides ; one must dig
among the roots besides ; which, as my experience appears to tell, it is better to do at
iirst, by making the trench there. In fact, it appears, that unless it be a large tree
Avhich it is necessary to uniermine, working from a space that a man can stand in,
a trench completely outside the circle of roots is a hindrance rather than otherwise,
because it takes away a support that the back of the spisde would rest upon Avhile
it was being forced inwards beneath the ends of the already loosened roots.
Some people may laugh at all this, and think me either ignorant or stupid; but
as several others find the same difficulties in their way, our ignoiarice is to be taken
into account. One friend of mine, who employs a more rejiular gardener, who
transpLmts his bush-apples and pears for him in a more expeditious and slashing
style, finds the roots shortened and injured so Djuch, that the trees take more than
a whole season to recover. And another prefers letting them canker on a cold clay
soil, and take their chance, in order to avoid the trouble and time taken up iu
i-emovfng them. A. B.
JS'arberth.
HORTICULTURAL AFFAIRS.
Exhibitions Axnoixced. — Hoyal Horticultural Society, Spring Shows,
Jlarcb lyth and April 16th ; Great Show, June 4th to 8th ; Eose Show, July 2nd ;
Exhibition at Bury in connection with the Royal Agricultural Society, July 15th
to 19th. JRoyal Botanic Society, Spring Shows, Saturdays, March 23rd, April 13th,
and April 27th ; General Exhibitions, Wednesdays, May 29th, June 19th, July
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 89
3rd. National ExJdbition, Manchester, June 7th to June 15th. West of jE)1 gland
Rose Show, Hereford, July 9th. Dundee Floral Fete, Baxter ParJc, Sept. 4th, 5th,
6th, and 7th. Clifton, Spring Show, May 23rd ; Rose Show, June 25th ; Autumn
Show, August 29th. Leeds Horticultural Societi/, Great Show. June 13th and
14th. Brussels, April 14th, 15th, and 16th. Malines, March l7th, 18th, 19th.
Faris Universal Fxposition, April 1st to October 31st.
Mr. Hul^ett's Wonders. — We have not met with any one who has seen Mr.
Hullett's Passion Flowers and Mangosteens, or the wonderful "annual fruit" from
Siam, which has seeds as big as a child's head ; nor have we seen any of these
things ourselves, nor have we been able to find any authentic account of them in
any work of authority. We suppose the Sorghum Tartaritim, seeds of which were
offered through the medium of the Times, to be identical with the sugar-c^ne grass,
Holcus saccharatus, described and figured in the Floral World of 1858, p. 128.
If it should not prove to be identical with this plant, Ave nevertheless feel tally per-
suaded that no one will ever eat a loaf of bread made from the seeds of this grass
ripened in England. It may prove to be an ornamental grass, and perhaps of some
value as fodder, but as a cereal adapted for this climate, it is worthy of cultivation
only by a madman.
EoYAL HoRTicuLTrR.\L SociETY. — The report read at the anniversary meeting
stated that the subscriptions for the past year amounted to £8176, and the total
income for the year was £13.184. The expenses amounted to £12.203 ; the lia-
bilities of the society were £980, and the balance in hand amounted to i'203. _ The
council called attention to the extension of the time for the principal exhibition to
five days— namely, June 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, The educational scheme,
instituted for the benefit of gardeners, was described as working well ; the exami-
nations held had resulted in thirteen young men receiving certificates either for
horticulture or fruit and veoetable culture. Five of these were employed at Chis-
wick, five at the Royal Gardens, Kew, and three were from private establishments.
Great versus Little Vines, etc.— On December 8th, 1866, there appeared an
the Gardener's Magazine an article on the advantages to be derived from allowing
vines abundance of room in suitable houses, as compared with the customary
restriction of vines to spaces incommensurate with the natural vigour and free
growth of the vine. The writer hinted, that growing little vines in pots, and many
varieties of grapes on vines kept to single rods, was only to be regarded as " toy
practice," pretty enough in its way, but to some extent an injury to the vine, and
likely, in the course of time, to lead to degeneracy. The principal point aimed at,
however, was, that if vines are a-lowed to extend themselves over vast spaces, they
keep in better health than if cramped, and bear crops which, for quality and quan-
tity, measuring space against space, give them an immense superiority over restricted
vines, Tlie subject has since been discussed in the Gardeners Chronicle, and
there is rising up a spirit of inquiry as to the actual value of dwarHng and cramp-
ing systems of cultivation. Our contemporary, the Gardeners Magazine, returned
to the subject on the 2nd and 16th of February, with a view to show that the
diseases of vines are to a great extent caused by a too severe system ot pruning,
which disturbs the balance between the head of the plant and its roots ; and then
proceeded to say some unkind things of the little dwarf trees that Mr. Rivers has
rendered so popular by his advocacy of their claims to general cultivation, in place
of the big trees of our forefathers. T •. ;?. most important subjects, full of
interest, and bearing directly on the state ot L ticultural practice in England at
the present time. What, \i', after all our supposed advances of late years, there
should come a reaction against all " toy" systems, and we should go back to the old
orehard method of fruit culture for hardy fruits, and require for every grape vine a
glass-house at least 100 feet in length ! Still there are points raised in the discussion
which no practical horticulturist can ignore.
A SELECTION OF VE&ETABLES EOE 1867.
Beet.— Pine-apple, St. Osyth, and Dewar's Short-top are the three best. The
Seakale beet is rubbish.
Brussels Sprouts. — Roseberry and Scrymger's Giant.
Beans. — Mazagan, Longpod, Taylor's Green Windsor.
90 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
Kidney Bext^s.— Dwarf : Perldn's Early Warwick, Sion House, Newingtott
Wonder. Runners : Scarlet, Eclipse.
Borecole (or Kale).— Cottager's, Green Curled Scotci), Sclater's New Cab-
baging, Albert Spi outs, P^earnonght.
Bkoccoli. — To cut in December, January^ and February : Snow's Winter
White, Early Penzance, Adams's Early White, Hampton Court, Dalmeny Park,.
Dilcock's Bride. To cut in May and June : Conning's Eeliauce, Fostei's Champion,
Eichmond Late, Miller's Dwarf, Basket White, Cattell's Eclipse. For ctUtiny in
September, October, and November: Walcheren, Dancer's Pink Cape, Grainger's
White, White Cape.
CxRROT.— For yardens : Long Surrey, Intermediate, French Shorthorn. For
farm and allotment yrounds : Belgian White, Selected Altdngliatn.
Cabbage.— Kemp's Incomparable, Tom Thumb, Brunswick, Sutton's Imperial
Eosette Collard, Enlield Market, Dwarf Early York, Atkinson's Matchless, Green
Curled Savoy, Early White Savoy.
CAULiFLowEfi. — Stadholder, New Mammoth, London White, Walcheren, Le
Normands.
CucuMBEK. — Hamilton's Volunteer, Kirklees Hall Defiance, Carter's Champion,
Cufhill's Black Spine, Lord Kenyon's Favourite, Mill's Jewess. (Usually Black-
spined cucumbers ai*e most liandsome, but less in size and pi'oductiveness than
white-spined kinds.)
Celeet.— Sutton's Superb Pink, Coles's Dwarf Eed, Incomparable White.
Endite.— Green Curled, Batavian, Moss Curled.
Lettuce. — Berkshire Brown Cos, Sutton's White Cos, Tom Thumb, Vosey's
Nonesuch, Ne Pius Ultra, Hammersmith Cabbage. The last is the hardiest.
Onion. — Eeadmg, James's Keeping, Deptlord, Nuneham Park.
Peas. — First Farly : button's Eingleader, Sangster's No. 1, Early Emperor,
Second Farly : Eley's Essex Eival, Advancer, Princess Royal. Main Crop ::
Champion of England, Paradise Mai row, Veitch's Perfection, M'Lean'o Wonderful.
Date : Ne Plus Ultra, Knight's Dwarf Green, British Queen. £ est four varieties :
Early Empei'or, Princess Eojal,Veitch's Perfection, British Queen. iSicc yood kinds,
all dwatf y rowers : Sutton' .-^ Ringleiider, 2j feet • Bishop's Long-podded, 2 feet ;
Princess Royal, 2^ feet ; Eingwood Marrow, 3 feet ; Yorkshire Hero, 2^ feet ;
Knight's Dwarf Green Marrow, 3 feet.
Potatoes. — Veitch's Aslileaf, Flour-ball, Scotch Qneen, Pink-eyed Regent,
Queen of Flukes, Pink-eyed Fluke. These six sorts cannot be surpassed for pro-
ductiveness, quality, and keeping. The following six are also first-rate Golden
Globe, Early Shaw, Piince of Wales Kidney. York Eegent, Fluke, Milky White,
A very productive and excellent kind is American Red.
Turnip. — Sutton's Early Short-top, Mousetaii White Globe, Red-top Mou-setaU,
Orange Jelly.
NEW PLANTS.
TPEIPEDIUM SCHLIMII, Schlim's Dady's Slipper {Bot. May. t. 5614).
— A pietty species from New Granada, found in rroist places, at an
elevation of 4000 feet above the sea level. It is a stemless, terrestrial
plant, with leathery ligulate leaves, and the flower-stem bears half a
dozen flowers, sepals and petals white, richly spotted with crimson, the
lip is white behind, but has a deep crimson blotch in front.
Lycaste gigantea, G-lgantic Dy caste {Dot. May. t. 5616). — Orchidea?. A
stately species, native of Central America. Ttiere are many varieties, but that
which appears to be the typic:-il form has a one-flowered scape, the sepals and petals
of great length, and a yellowish olive colour, the lip three lobed and short, the
colour maroon, bordered with an 07'ange rim.
BowiEA volubilis, T'lmning Dotoiea {Bot. May. t. 5619). — LiliaceaE?. A very
curious plant, quite destitute of beauty. " It consists of little more than a globose
green bulb, from the apex of which ascends yearly a very slender, twining green
flower-stem, six to eight feet high, that tlirows off an abundance of flowerless and
leafless branches below, and above bears numerous small green flowers." It is
allied to Drimia and Scilla, and is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 01
CuKCUMA AusTRALASiCA, Australian TFild Turmenc {Bot. Mag. t. 5620). —
Zingiberaceje. Obtained by Mr. John Veitch from Cape York, on the Australian
continent. It is an ornamental stove herb, with lanceolate leaves a foot or more m
length, and a many-flowered spike bearing pale yellow flowers and conspicuous
rose-red bracts. It flowers in the autumn, and is then a pleasing object in the
stove,
Tapeinotks Caroiin,!:, Empress Carolines Tapeinotes {Bot. Mag. t. 5623), —
Gesneriacece. A superb stove plant, introduced by Mr. Bull. It was discovered
during the Brazilian travels of the present Emperor of Mexico (Maximilian I.),
and is named in honour of the Empress of Mexico. It is a small under shrub, the
leaves opposite, four to six inches Jong, oblong lanceolate, bluish green above, bright
red purple below. Flowers solitary, corolla an inch and a half long, white. Will
be highly esteemed both for its handsome foliage and elegant flowers.
Angr.ecu-M ciTRATUM, Citron-yelloio Angracum [Bot. Mag. t. 5624.) — Orchidea?,
A curious and pretty species, the flowers are produced in a Lng pendulous raceme,
flowers three quarters of an inch in diameter, flat, pale straw colour.
Impatiens latifolia, Broad-leaved Cingalese Balsam {Bot. Mag. t. 5625). —
Balscimineoe. A perenniak Balsam, native of Ceylon and the Himalaya. It is a
hranchiug shrub, two or three feet high, with ovate leaves and rosy flowers.
Clavija FULGEN.S, BrilUant-floicered Claiuja (Bot. Mag. t. 5626).— Myrsineae.
A very beautiful plant from South America. The trunk is about four feet high,
very stout, leaves ten to fourteen inches long, three to five inches broad ; racemes
erect, four to five inches long ; the rachis entirely hidden by the densely crowded
flowers, corolla half an incli in diameter, deep orange red, yellow in the disc. The
rich colour uf the crowded flowers and the very distinct character of the whole
plant, renders it a striking ornament of the stove.
Barleria Gibsoni, Br. Gibson's Barleria {Bot. Mag. t. 5628).— Acanthace».
This fine plant is a native of Central India. It is a small glabrous shrub, with
leaves two to tour inches long, the flowers in short terminal spikes, corolla large,
pale purple. It is a desirable plant for flowering in the stove during winter, but
not equal to some other members of the same natural order already in cultivation.
Saccolabium cuRviFuLiUM, Becwved-leaved Saccolabium {L'lllust. Hort.
t. 493).— This lovely Npalese orchid is now well known to cultivators. Its many-
flowered racemes literally glow with their small orange red flowers, which are
extremely neat, and when the plant is well treated in the India house, it flowers
mo:;t protusely.
Peak Beurre de Feomental {Vlllust. Bort, t. 494).— A large, melting pear,
pyrifoim in shape, the skin amber, and covered with cinnamon russet ; flesh white,
juicy, sweet, and highly perfumed. Ripe during October and November.
Weigelia iliDDENDORFFiANA V. vvB.vxj-RXTXy Purple-floxcered variety ofWeigeUa
Middenaorffiayia. A robust-growing, hardy shrub, Avith handsome dark green
leaves, and large panicles of flowers, which are purplish red, shading to black at
the base of the pf-tals,
Amaryllis (Hippeasteum) Alberti {Vlllust. Sort. t. 496).— A handsome
double-flowered amaryllis, the segments of the flowers lohed and notched, the
colour vermilion red.
Myosotis sempekflobens Impeeatrice Elisabeth, Berpetual-flowering For-
get-me-not {Ullliist. Sort. t. 500). — An exquisitely beautiful hardy herbaceous
plant, the flowt-rs in dense cluster^, colour deep blue, with clear yeUow eye.
Strawberry Perpetual Pike {LHUud. Hort. t. 501). — A small-fruited straw-
berry, bearing abundantly in early summer, and again in autumn. The plant is ot
vigorous cunstitution, the fruit round or oval, vermilion red, the flesh white or rosy,
sweet, and perfumed.
Camellia Japonica Stella Polare {Vlllust. Hort. t. 502).— A very neat,
medium-sized flower, very symmetrical a/id compact, the colour deep carmine red,
with a pale bar down the centre of each petal.
92
m PLUiTS. SEEDS, ETC.
,^ XJ^'DEE this head Ave shall endeavour to
= present to our readers from time to time
' selections of the best plants, flowers, seeds,
-^ etc., etc., adapting the selections to the
r^^^r^- seasons, and, as far as possible, to
~^ the presumed requirements of our
amateur readers. We are not intro-
ducing a new feature, for from the first
issue of the Floeal Woeld, we have constantly
to recommend good things to notice, and warn
our readers against bad things ; but the business of selection
is now to be pursued more systematically than hitherto. As a
rule, descriptions will not be attempted, and the names must be
accepted as suflicient.
SELECTION OF FUCHSIAS.
SCAKLET SEPALS AND SINGLE DABK COROLLA.
JEifflitfor Exldhiiion. — LigLt Heart, Wai- Eagle, Lizzie Hexham, Harry George
Henderson, Aurora, Cliarmiiig, La Favorita, Lord Elelio.
Tie eh e for Decoration., very shotiy. — Enoch Ardtn, Conquest, Land of Plenty,
"Victor Emmanuel, Fame, The Lord Warden, Bacchus, Exhibitor, La Traviata'
Lucrezia Borgia, Little Bo-peep, Lord Elcbo.
SCAELET SEPALS AND SINGLE EOSE OR LAVENDER COROLLA.
Six for J^xhihition. — Roderick Dliu, Father Ignatius, Consolation, Northern
Light, Sunshine, Beauty.
Seven for Decoration, very shoivy. — Constellation, Emblematic, Don Giovanni,
Finsbury Volunteer, Rifleman, Ben-e-Gloe, Dr. Livingston.
WHITE SEPALS AND SINGLE PURPLE COROLLA.
One for Hxhihition. — Prince Alfred.
One for Decoration. — Lady Haytesbury.
WHITE SEPALS AND SINGLE SCAELET Oil PINK COUOLLA.
Seven for JExhilition — Rose of Denmark, Lucy Mills, Catherine Parr, Arabella,
Agnes, Mcllle. Tietjens, Minnie Banks.
Three for Decoration. — Biauca Marginata, II Trovatore, Merry Maid.
SCAELET SEPALS WITH SINGLE WHITE COEOLLA.
Three for J^xMhition. — Conspicua, Puritani, Mrs. Gladstone.
Two for Decoration. — Bland's Floribunda, short stiff growth, requires no
stak-s, and will grow and bloom under almost any treatment ; Queen of the Whites,
very iwarf.
SCARLET SEPALS AND DOUBLE WHITE COROLLA.
Three for Exhibition. — Emperor of Fuchsias, when two or three years old a
fine object in a conservatory ; Eva; Vainqueur de Puebla, the best double white
corolla out, fine for the open garden.
SCARLET SEPALS AND DOUBLE DARK PURPLE OR BLUE COROLLA.
Six for JExhiliition. — Grand Duke, the largest and closest corolla, an improve-
ment on Universal ; Rifleman, Blue Beauty, Agamemnon, King of the Doubles,
Norfolk Giant (or Norfolk Hero).
Three for Decoration. — Grand Admiral, Alberta, Monster.
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 93
A SELECTION OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS.
Fifty Large Varieties for Specimen Floicers.
(The best 25 marked thus *.)
Abbe Passaglia, brassy amber ; Albert Ilelyer,* large rose purple, a noble
flower; Alfred Salter, delicate pink; Antonelli, salmon orange; Beauty,* peach
blush ; Bernard Palissy,* bright orange ; Beverley,* cream white ; Cardinal
Wiseman, crimson ; Clierub,* golden amber ; Dr. Brock, reddish orange ; Duchess
of Buckingham,* wliite, sulphur centre ; Duchess of SVellington, delicate rose ;
Dupont de I'Eure, orange ; Empress of India,* white, very large ; Eve, sulphur
yellow, incurved ; General Bainbrigge,* dark orange amber ; General Hardinge,
Indian red ; General Slade, red, tipped orange ; Globe, white ; Golden Ball, bright
orange, beautifully incurved, and fine form; Golden Dr. Brock,* bright yellow,
beautifully incurved ; Golden Eagle,* Indian red and gold ; Golden Trilby,*
(Forsyth's), fine yellow ; Her Majesty, silvery blush ; lago, dark purple violet,
incurved, good for pot culture ; Imogene,* rose, shaded silver, incurved, fine show
flower ; Jardin des Plantes,* bright golden orange; King of Denmark,* bright
rose lilac, incurved, fine show flower ; Lady Carey,* large rose lilac, incurved, a
beautiful show flower ; Lady Haidinge,* delicate rose ; Lady Slade, lilac and pink;
Margaret Vatcher,* large rose, pink, incurved, and fine; Mr. Brunlees,* large,
Indian red, tipped gold, incurved, and fine ; Mr. Wyness,* violet puce, incurved, a
beautiful flower ; Mrs. W. Holborn, ivory Avhite; Mrs. Kaines, blush, incurved, a
fine late-flowering vMriety ; Pink Pearl, delicate pink, shaded silver, incurved, fine
for specimens ; Prince of Wales,* purple violet, beautifully incurved, a fine show
flower ; Princess Alexandra, lilac blush ; Princess of Wales, white tinted rose ;
Queen of England,* blush ; Raymond, golden fawn ; Robert James,* orange cinna-
mon ; Sam Weller,* Indian red, tipped gold, incurved, a fine show flower ; St.
Patrick, ruby red ; Stafford, rosy purple ; Stellaris globosa, carmine ; The Globe,
blush white ; Themis, fine rose ; Venus,* lilac peach, finely incurved, a beautiful
show flower ; Virgin Queen,* pure white, beautifully incurved, fine for specimens
or cut blooms.
Fifty Large Varieties for Specimen Plants.
(The best 12 marked thus *.)
Alba multiflora, white ; Alma,* rose crimson; Annie Sa,lter, golden yellow;
Arlgena, amaranth ; Attraction, large blush ; Aurea multiflora, pure yellow ;
Beautedu Nord, violet carmine; Bernard Palissy, bright orange ; Blanche of Castile,
pure white ; Cardinal Wiseman, red crimson ; Chevalier Domage, bright gold ;
Christine, peach ; Crimson Velvet, velvety crimson ; Defiance, white ; Edwin
Landseer, rosy ruby; Eve, sulphur yellow; Florence Mary, bright salmon red;
Florencs Nightingale, pale sulphur ; General Bainbrigge, dark orange amber ;
Gloria Mundi, brilliant golden yellow; Golden Christine,* golden bufi"; Her
Majesty, silvery blush ; lago, dark purple violet; Jewess, orange and red ; Julie
Lagravere, crimson; Lady Hardinge, delicate rose; Lord Clyde,* bright crimson,
fine foliage ; Lord of the Isles, rosy orange ; Lord Ranelagh, red orange ; Little
Harry,* goldt-n amber; Mr. Murray,* violet rose; Mount Etna,* red; Mount
Vesuvius, fiery red ; Pelagia,* orange cinnamon ; Pink Pearl, delicate pink ; Plutus,
bright gold ; Prince Albert, crimson ; Prince of Wales, fine purple violet ; Progne,
amaranth ; Quilled Beauty, oranse cinnamon; Rifleman, ruby ; Sam Slick, ruby;
Sam Weller, lndi;in red ; The Globe, blush white ; Venus,* fine lilac peach ; Vesta,*
ivory wliite ; Virgin Queen, pure white ; White Christine,* white ; Yellow Perfec-
tion,* yellow.
Eighteen Varieties of Fompones for Standards.
(Best 9 marked thus *.)
Bob,* flowers early as a standard ; White Trevenna, Rose Trevenna,* Cedo
NuUi,* Golden Cedo NuUi*, Lilac Cedo Nulli,* Duruflet,* Antonius, Andromeda,
Miss Nightingale, Firefly,* Madame Montels, La Vogue, Salamon,* Lizzie Holmes,
St. Thais, Astrea, Florence.
94 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
SELECTION OF GLADIOLI.
Selection of One Snndred Varieties for Exhibition. — Achille, Jiurelian, Blair
Atliol, Calypso, Carminata, Charles Dickens, Ceres, Clemence, Cuvier, Comte de
Morny, Crystal Palace, Diana Chateaubriand, Due de Malakoff, Dr. Lindley, Edulia,
Eleanor Norman, El Dorado, Ensign, Endymion, Flore. Florian, Fulton, Galatea,
Garibaldi, Imperatrice, Eugenie, James Watts, James Veitcli, J. W. Lane, Janire,
John Bull, Julia, Juno, John Waterer, Kate Kearney, Lady Alice Hill, Le Poussin,
Liune, Lord Granville, Lord Riglan, Ma<lame de Sevigne, Madame Domage, Madame
Furtado, Madame Isidore Salles, Madame Vilmorin, Madame Adelo Souchet,
Madame Basseville, Madame Binder, Madame Eugene Yerdier, Madame de Vatry,
Madame Ilaquin, ^Eadarae Periere. Midame Leseble. Ma<lame Eabourdin, Mdlle.
Clara Loise. McMahon, Maid of Perth, Maria, Mathilda de Landevoisin. Mazeppa,
Meyerbeer. Miss Porter, Mr. Marnock, Mr. "Mowbray, Monsieur Camille Bernirdin,
Monsieur Lebrun D'Albanne, Mrs. Edward Knott, Nanoleon III., Nemesis, Ninon de
I'Enclos, Opbir, Ornement des Parterres. Oracle, Pallas, Penelope. Pline, Princess
Clothilde, Princess Mathilde, Princess Maude, Prince of Wales, Prince Imperial,
Princess of Wales, Peter Lawson. Piapliael, Rebecca, Rembrandt, Reine Victoria,
Roi Leopold, Roscius, Rubens, Samuel Waymouth, Stephenson, Stewart Low, The
Favourite, The Colonel, The Major, Walter Scott, Yelleda, Vesta, Vicomtesse de
Belleval.
Twenty for Clumps and Beds. — Aristotle, salmon, rose and red ; Brench-
leyensis, vermilion and crimson ; Bowiensis, crimson and orange ; Chateaubriand,
rosy cerise ; Couranti fulgens, brilliant crimson ; Daphne, cherry and carmine ;
Don Juan, orange-red and yellow ; Dr. Andry, orange-scarlet ; Fanny Rouget,
rose and carmine ; Gil Bias, carmine-rose ; Gandavensis, scarlet and yellow ;
Imperatrice, salmon-blush ; Janire, salmon and crimson ; John Bull, white ;
Madame Coudere, shaded carmine ; Mars, brilliant scarlet ; Mrs. Blouet, rose, shaded
cai-mine ; Mr. Vincheon, rose and reddish-salmon ; Mr. Georgeon, salmon-rose ;
Triomphe d'Enghien, carmine shaded yellow.
The varieties enumerated in the last of the lists are those that have been found
-especially useful in the grouping system at Stoke Newington. S. H.
Soap-Suds as Maxure. — During the course of a lecture at Bradford, the other
-evening, Dr. Dresser, an eminent lecturer on the physiology of plants, said that a
common idea prevailed that soap-suds were a good manure for fruit-trees. This
was a great mistake, but happily for the lives of the trees, the knowledge of the
true position of the roots was not generally understood. It was quite a common
occurrence, remarked the lecturer, for people who had a garden to preserve the soap-
suds, and, taking them into the orchard, to pour the suds on the soil near to the
trunks of the trees. By this proceeding the suds, v/hich were a deadly poison, did
not reach the roots, which were not near the trunk, but spread themselves under
ground on a line somewhat with the wide-spreading arms of the trees. Dr. Dresser
said this practice was quite common in the south of England, but he thought that
in this intelligent part of the country people who had gardens know better than to
deluge their trees with such a noxious element to vegetation as soap-suds. The
knowledge that suds are not good for manure will no doubt prove useful to many
people who take a pi'ide in their gardens.
E. M., having met with the enclosed paragraph in a country newspaper, will be
much obliged to the Editor of the Floral World, if he will tell her in the next
Bumber if he agrees with it ; as she has hitherto believed that soap-suds were a
valuable manure for both flowers and vegetables. [The pouring of soap-suds at the
base of the stems of fruit-trees may not be good practice, but the statement that
soap-suds " is a deadly poison" to plants is, in our opinion, in direct oppo>ition to
known facts. We have used soap-suds largely as a liquid manure, especially in the
cultivation of the chrysanthemum, and it not only did not poison, but it apparently
promoted a vigorous growth and an abundant bloom. There may be in some soaps
poisonous ingredients, but, as a rule, the fat and alkali of which they consist are
well adapted to nourish plants.]
05
GARDEN GUIDE FOR MARCH.
Kitchen Garden. — There ie a great scarcity now of green-stuff for the kitchen.
Our lo^ses of -winter greens were imnoense, but for six weeks past we have had
aband>ince of delicate sprouts from old stumps. Whenever sprouts are to be
obfaimd in each warm weather as we have had lately, tliry should be cut as soon
as large enougli to take hold of them — say wiien as large as walnuts ; for if left
under the impression that tliey will grow larger, they will simply rush into flower,
and be useless. Vast quantities of sprouts that would be delicious, if caught at the
right moment, are lost through the haste with wliich they become hard and
stringy when pushing their flower-buds, for every shoot of a brassica has flower-
buds in it at this time of year. The operations of this month are in a great measure
dependent on the weather. The best general advice we can give is to sow and
plant everything as soon as possible. The most important subjects are peas, beans
potatoes, lettuces, and saladings generally, and spinach.
Flower Garden. — A good list of annuals, with remarks upon their uses, will he
found in the number for February, 1866. All kinds of liardy annuals may be sown
now. Roses may still be planted, also gladioli for autumn flowering. It is a o-ood
time to purchase and plant hardy herbaceous plants.
Fruit Garden.T-Pnt a good mulch on the ground amongst raspberry canes and
strawberry plants. On hot, dry soils, a mulch of half-rotten dung will be good to
nourish the roots of bush-apple, pear, and plum-trees. If any pruning not yet
done, finish quickly.
G-reenhowie — This house should be gay now with many kinds of spring flowers.
Give plenty of air in mild weather ; hut while east winds are blowing do not open
a single ventil.tor ; thei-e will be quite enough air get in between the laps, etc., etc.
Look over the stock, and repot all plants that need it. A good time to prune in
and repot all the geraniums that are for summer and autumnal flowering.
* ^* Past issues of the Flokal World contain copious calendars of operations ;
and the Garden Oracle has a complete and concise calendar, adapted for reference,
for these reasons the " Garden Guide" will be on a contracted scale this year.
TO COERESPOjS^DENTS.
Moss ON Gravel Walks, Hardy Evergreens. — M. C. — One grand preventive
of the growth of moss on gravel walks is perfect drainage. A dry walk is rarely
grown with moss. Occasional sprinklings of quicklime or salt will destroy moss,
and to make the best of these dressings, they should be put on in dry weather.
M . C. says, "I live in Herts, in a low situation, on a gravelly soil. My Lauristi-
nuses, common Laurels, Cedru- Deodara, Roses, etc., etc., are cut off entirely. The
Portugal laurels have stood the frost well, but I have plenty of them, and want
some more ornamental evergreens for the lawn and borders." It is a strange thing
that the Berberis is so mucii neglected in the planting of hardy shrubs. Many of
them will bear any amount of frost, and they like damp situations, where usually
in hard weather the greatest havoc occurs. B. Dancinii is most graceful in habit,
with neat glossy leaves, and abundance of orange yellow flowers in spring. H.
Japonica has huge angular leaves, and presents at all seasons a bold and very
distinct aspect. The follov^nng are fine subjects : — Berberis fascicidaris hyhrida,
B. aquifolium, B. diilcis, Bzixus Balearica (sometimes suffers), B. sempervirens
and its varieties, which are matiy, and all good ; B. rotund/folia, Ilex aqui/olium
Shepherdi, I. a. laurifolium, and the variegated-leaved liollies, of which there are
enough distinct and beautiful to furnish the Lirgest public promenade in Englandwitli-
out creating monotony, and no frost will hurt them. The two varieties of J. aquifolium
just named are essential because of their bold characters. Hi/perictcm calycinum
makes pretty clumps under trees, flowering abundantly in July ; Phillyrea ilicifolia,
Quercu.<i ilex, Skimmia Japonica, a neat dwarf shrub, producing abundance of
scarlet berries : it is one of the hardiest shrubs known. We omit the Ivies and
Rhododendrons, but they may be used to great effect in the embellishment of
gardens. The last-named require the soil to be prepared for them, and therefore
are always regarded as distinct in purpose and character from other evergreens.
Lastly, there are no finer ornaments to a lawn than the Yuccas, and those commonly
used in gardens are rarely hurt by frost.
96 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
Planting Ghound Vineries. — A. B. — You may box in the roots of the vines
with concrete to prevent them running into the clay. We should not trouble to do
it. The possibility of draining the damp side of the bed can only be determined
by a competent person on the spot. If there is a fall and an outlet any place may
be drained. Give us fall and outlet sufficient, and we would drain the Atlantic, if it
Avere desirable to do so. Your neighbour need not put flags beneath the drainage
in his vinery border ; a foot of rubble will answer quite as Avell. The amount of
elevation of a vine border must depend on circumstances. There are some very
absorbent chalky and sandy soils in the eastern parts of England, where the rainfall
scarcely ever exceeds twenty inches, and in such spots to elevate a, vine border would
be bad practice. In your rainy climate, probably, an elevation of five or six feet
might be desirable both for di-yness and to catch the sun's rays abundantly. A good
border should slope gradually to the south, and to avoid excavating deep at the
extreme dip of the border, it might be made shallower there. Anyone who has a
glimmering sense of the meaning of the plans adopted in vine culture will not be
troubled about an inch or a foot this way or that ; no two gardens are alike, and
no two rules, however good, can be uniformly followed.
Loudon's " Hortus Britannicus." — W. — There have been several editions since
1830. To ascertain the exact state of the case, ask your bookseller to inquire date
and price of last edition, or apply direct to Messrs. Longmans. There is no recent
book that can be said to take its place.
Fishpond, Forced Eosep. — J. G., Kendal — In clay soils it is usually sufficient
to cut out the pond, and puddle the sides and bottom. Experienced workmen
should be employed to do this, or leakage is sure to occur. Whex-e there is
no clay, and the surrounding soil is of an absorbent nature, the only safe course is
to have the sides of the pond bricked in cement. After it is finished it should be
filled, and a continuous run of water kept up for three months before putting fish
into it. Your roses in the greenhouse are probably not well rooted in their pots.
They ought to be in the pots some time, a year if possible, before forcing them, in
order to flower satisfactorily.
Fern Cases. — A. J. — True, we say but little about the condensation of moisture
within the cases, for we see very little of it, thougli we have cases in several parts of
the house, entrance-hall, drawing-i-oom, bed-room, etc., etc. It must be a matter of
management. No doubt nine-tenths of all the cases in use are supplied with an
excess of water. None of our cases have had a drop of water for tiiree or four
months past ; the soil is moderately moist, the ferns are glossy with health and
pushing new fronds freely, and there is so little condensation that the view is never
interrupted. Try a drier regimen. We have become quite sick of using hot water ;
all our cases are cool now, and we trust they will continue so, for to keep them
2;oing with heat needs a system of engineering that pretfy well turns a dwelling-
house into a workshop.
Trees, etc. — Crito. — The exposition of the general law on the subject was
offered as a general reply to a number of queries similar to yours. It appeared to
us quite unlikely that the ablest reply that could be given to your queries would be
of any interest to our readers. Respecting the trees, we do not want them, we
did not say so much. But you must know that many trees are named from their
flowers or their fruits, and that leaves alone are insufficient for their determ.ination.
Imperfect specimens reach us daily, such as fern fronds without spores, leaves of all
kinds of plants, sometimes seeds, dried geranium flowers, and smashed particles of
vegetation, that may be flowers or leaves, or pulp of apples or potatoes. To name
them is impossible. Experience has taught the necessity of dealing with such
things in a summary manner, and it was in no spirit of discourtesy to you that we
put the leaves into a huge drawer, where they still lie waiting for an opportunity.
The probability is that we know them all, and shall give you all the names. Thanks
for the off'er of the Carlina. We have long possessed it, and have access constantly
to one of the largest collections of herbaceous plants in England. Liquidamher imberhe
is entered in the following catalogues : — Paul and Son, Cheshunt ; Rivers and Son,
Sawbridgeworth ; Lawson and Son, Edinburgh. L. styradjiua may be obtained
almost anywhere.
Cooking Sea Kale. — Mrs. IB. S. — The bitterness is not the fault of the gar-
dener, but of the cook. It is a proof it has been boiled in an insufficient quantity
of water. Put it in plenty of water with salt, let it boil fast half an hour, drain it,
and serve it hot with melted butter, and there will be no bitterness.
THE FLORAL WORLD
AND
GAEDEN GUIDE.
APRIL, 1867.
THE AECANUM OF PERPETUAL BEAUTY.
"HERE has been enough said in these pages upon the
shortcomings of the prevailing system of embellishino-
gardens, and we may turn from the negative to the
positive in hope of some advantage to our readers. We
propose, then, to unfold to them a plan for the perfect
abolition of tameness and sameness, for making an end of monotony
and wearisomeuess, for the termination of the floral see-saw, the
feast and fast system by which we make sure of flowers during
June, July, and August, and of a beggarly account of empty beds
during the remaining months of the year. We are to propound the
Arcanum — the secret, the mystery — which is to be no mystery by the
time we have done wHth it ; and it is all to be made so plain and
pleasant, that from this month of April, 18G7, garden grumblers are
to cease from off the earth, disappointments are to be known no
more, and the reign of concord and flowery bliss is to set in with
such severity as to overcome all obstacles. You are now expecting
something new, yet Solomon has averred that there is nothing new
under the sun. What I shall say this time will be an old tale to
some readers, but quite a new one to a large number, for the new-
series of the Eloral AVorld has added some thousands to the
circle amongst which it moves so modestly and with such general
approbation. I must, therefore, beg those who are already in the
secret to read this as though they had read nothing else on the
subject before ; and as for our thousands of new readers, I have no
doubt the whole story will be new to them ; and I finish this preface
by expressing a hope that they may derive from it something
useful.
The arcanum to be expounded is the PLUNGixa System. It
cannot be my invention, because plunging in some sort of way was
done before I was born. But I alone, perhaps, of all practical and
experimental cultivators, have developed the plunging system; it is
with me a matter partly of choice, partly of necessity, but alto-
gether essential to my routine and range of practice, and a source
of perpetual delight. All that I do is on a small scale. People
YOL. II. — NO. IV. 7
y» THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
possessed of ordinary intelligence will believe and understand that.
A Cr\ stal Palace or a Battersea Park are not wanted for my experi-
ments and comparisons, a few square yards of glass and ground
suffice ; ay, and the few that I have make more work than I can
find time to attend to properly. I say this, because I shall have to
describe the system in such a way as to show that it can be carried
out on a large or a small scale, according to the means and ta^tes of
the practitioner, and to encoura<2:e the possessors of small gardens.
I wish it to be known that mine is extremely small, and without
that plunging system would be (to me) unbearable at any and every
season. In common with the thousands of detached villas that abound
in the Suburbs of London, the house is approached through a fore-
court, and this fore-court is the scene of operations ; it is kept at all
seasons richly furnished, as gay as weather will permit, and under-
goes some change every two or three weeks the whole year round.
The plunging system is nothing unless there are at least four changes
in the year — say in April to put out hyacinths and tulips, and in
May or June to put out geraniums, calceolarias, and mixtures; in
October for chrysanthemums, and in December for evergreens. But
there may be twelve, twenty-four, or even fifty-two changes, if it is the
taste of the proprietor to encourage change, and he has the means
of keeping the wheel turning at that rate. At the risk of all that
may be said of a man who praises his own work, I will at once say
that I have never in all my travels seen a garden, whether of similar
dimensions, or whether larger or smaller, kept so gay, so richly
furnished, and so frequently changed in aspect as mine. What I do
on a small scale, others may do on a large scale; and wherever the
plunging system is fairly tried, it will be found to surpass in
splendour, certainty, and variety, every other system that can be
thought of to compete with it.
Let me endeavour to give an idea of the system as practised at
Stoke iSewington. There is a centre circular bed enclosed in a
beautiful jar di net of Eansome's imperishable stone, and there are three
borders, all of them faced with a handsome moulded curb, also in
Eansome's stone. Two of the borders are planted with trees and
shrubs, the principal border of the three being as richly furnished
as possible with Aucubas, Hollies, Yews, Berberis, Box, Japan
Privet, and other first-class evergreens. During winter this plantation
is still further enriched by plunging amongst the permanent shrubs
pot-plants of Cupressus Lawsoniana, pyramid Ivies, Irish Yews, and
other characteristic plants, all of which are removed in spring to
better quarters to promote their growth for the season, as the scene
of the plunging is very much overshadowed by large trees. The
front lines of these borders and the circular stone bed consist of
cocoa-nut fibre refuse two to three feet deep. It is in these front
lines that the plunging, j^ar excellence, is carried out in the most
complete manner, and a display of colour produced at all seasons of
the year, the eftect of which is greatly heightened by the depth of
green and richness of variegated foliage of the background.
T«ro remarks are proper at this point. In the first place, well-
grown pot-plants, plunged in cocoa-nut fibre, have a much brighter,
THE FLOKIL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 99
a much more artistic and finished appearance, than plants of the same
kind equally well grown in the open ground. The beautiful, clear,
reddish-brown colour of the refuse by contrast, brings out every tint
of green with peculiar brightness, and ^ffords relief to every kind of
flower. There is a peculiar charm about a well-furnished plunge
bed if the material consists of cocoa-nut fibre ; it is owing to the
colour of the material, which sets off and brightens every scrap of
vegetation, to which it serves as a groundwork. Another remark I
must make, which may be of interest to some readers, though it
arises out of my own professional duties and practice. The plunging
system affords me the means of perpetually comparing species and
varieties as to their habits and characters ; and without it, such a
book as the " Grarden Oracle" would be impossible, for I am makincr
notes in the fore-court for that work the whole year round. For
example, I grow in pots collections of hyacinths, crocuses, tulips,
geraniums, coniferous trees, ivies, etc., in some cases going so far as
100 to 500 varieties in one class.
These are potted and propagated as required, kept carefully
labelled, and are variously brought into flower in pits, greenhouses,
and open beds, and are brought forward when in perfection, and
thus, during the greater part of the year, I have beneuth my window
a miniature flower-show. Do you remember the lovely weather we
had from the 20ch of February to the 8th of March ? Well, on the
20th of February last, we put out a good collection of crocuses,
tulips, and hyacinths, which had been broui^'ht on gently, and were
in splendid condition of leaf and flower. It is true that on the 10th
of March winter returned, and there was ample warning and ample
time for them all to be taken up and put under cover, and no doubt
nine-tenths of our readers, if possessing such a border, would have
saved the plants. Mine remain untouched ; snow and frost have
taken the shine out of them, but when the weather mends, the
borders will be touched over and refreshed, and there are plenty more
bulbs to take the places of any that may be found past their prime.
We potted 1000 picked bulbs of Hyacinths last autumn, and Crocuses
and Tulips in proportion, so we shall do pretty well till the Diely-
tras, yellow Alyssums, and white Iberises come on to follow them.
An amateur who has a passion for floriculture, and is compelled to
reside near a town, and put up with a small garden, may have full
gratification of his taste by following the plunging system, and may
soon have better collections of plants than the majority of people
possessing large gardens, and making pretensions to large practice.
Yet a third remark. The system is admirably adapted to produce
splendid effects by means of the cheapest plants, and a very large
proportion of the subjects grown ought to be hardy, and adapted to
bear some amount of rough treatment.
Now let me suppose some one of our readers anxious to carry into
effect these proposals, with him or her the question will probably be,
" How am I to begin ?" I will endeavour to answer the question in
such a way as to suit a majority of cases. The first thing to be
done is to select the site for the operations, and here I would offer a
word of advice to this effect — feel your way carefully, begin with
100
THE FLOKAL WOELD AKD GARDEIS GUIDE.
one border or so, and extend the system as you become accustomed
to it, and equal to its demands, for it will swallow up many more
plants than you bave been accustomed to provide for the same space
when planting out was followed.
If I had to advise in particular cases, I know I should frequently
purpose turfmg over many of the existing flower-beds, and reducing
the area for display to very circumscribed limits ; for in many
small gardens the multiplicity of flower-beds is puerile, and makes
one think of a doll's garden, or a farthing kaleidoscope. Of course
we get into difficulties at this point ; people are not prepared to give
up their flower-beds, and do not quite see the way clearly to do any-
thing with them but as they have been r.ccustomed to. Well, I can
ofl*er an arcanum in this case, that is of nearly universal fitness. If
there are groups of beds, and the desire is to improve the garden
and reduce the extent of bedding, and make a first start in plung-
ing, it will probably not be difficult to mark oft' certain of the beds
to be planted with evergreen and flowering shrubs, with some good
hardy herbaceous plants in front of them, and reserve the remainder
for experiments in plunging. Let us illustrate this suggestion by a
rough and ready example. Suppose a group of beds, as in the
annexed diagram. We have here ten beds, and we want to reduce
1
o
3
4
8
5
9
G
10
7
their number without making them one-sided. We have but to
strike out, say, 2, 4, 7, 9, and we have six remaining, thus —
]S'ow again, suppose that we cannot attempt to manage six beds
by plunging, why not plant o and 6 with groups of hollies, or, if
equally convenient (as it may be in a peat district), with hardy
llbododendrons and Azaleas, or with Pampas grasses and Tritomas,
and a few other such striking and graceful plants, reserving the four
outside beds for the flowers. I do not ofi'er this diagram as illus-
trating anybody's garden, but to explain how easily the way to
reform may be found by those who have reforming proclivities.
THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 101
Plungiiii^ in common earth, that is to say, in the soil of the place,
is possible, but not desirable. So we may use sawdust, or old tan,
or even moss, or coal ashes. But tliere is nothing half so good as
the cocoa-nut fibre ; it is always clean and moist, never wet, never
dry, pleasing to look at (as before remarked upon), harbours no
vermin, and a lady careful of her hands, may work at plunging pots
in it, and scarcely find one stain upon her fingers when the work
is done. The next best thing is tan, the next best moss. Plung-
ing in mould is allowable, iDut not advisable ; but coal ashes are
simply filthy, and to adopt them in the " plunging system," that is,
as an element in a decorative system, is heresy ; let no reader of the
Floral AVoeld ever confess to it, for fear of anathema maranatha.
With cocoa-nut and tan there is no need at all to make provision
for the drainage of the pots, but in plunging in common mould or
coal ashes, it is necessary to place a brick or an empty inverted pot
under every pot containing a plant, to prevent the plant becoming
water-logged, and also to keep out v^'orms.
But here is the cart before the horse : we want a Frenchman
to arrange these ideas in proper sequence, for to the Englishman
sequence is impossible. Well, if I tell all the tale, I suppose I shall
be forgiven if I put the last chapter in the middle of the story. The
question now is about the formation of the plunge beds. In places
where stone or wooden edgings are already in use, there is not much
difficulty. You decide what is to be the width of the plunge
border, and to that width the earth is to be dug out. If the border
is narrow^ (say three feet), a depth of eighteen inches will be
enough, because very large pots will not be used. But if wide (say
six feet), it may be cut to a sloping bottom twelve inches at the
extreme front to three feet at the extreme rear, which will allow of
the largest pots or tubs with specimen conifers for the back row in
winter time' But I say, find out all these particulars for yourselves ;
that is far better than following any ready-made rules, for in some
places good plunging will be done with small pots, and in other
places good plunging will be done in large pots ; so again some
practitioners Avill indulge largely in winter trees, and some will only
care for summer flowers, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. Where beds
are cut in grass, it is an easy matter to take out the earth and put
in suitable plunging material ; where there is a grass vero;e to a
border there can be no difficulty in cutting sharp to it ; but in case
of a box or thrift edging, the cutting must be done with care, or the
edo-ing may be killed. Put down the line three inches from the live
edging, and cut down sloping, so as to spare the roots. If flooring
boards, or any rough planking can be afl'orded, line the bed with
timber, back and front, as shown in the diagram, where we suppose
Plunge i g Soil
p!^ Planted.
Bed.
102 TffE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
the front to be clipped box or in any case a bold and substantial stone
edging ; next u ithin tliat, as a lining, a plank, on edge ; then a
given breadtli of cocoa-nut fibre for plunging; next a plank on
edge as before, and then, beyond that, the undisturbed soil of the
garden, with a background of evergreens, etc., etc.
"When all this is done, there mus^t be established a regular system
of cultivation to keep the beds supplied. If this cannot be done,
better no plunging at all. However, I advisee that one or two
borders only be tried at first, and the system of growing will be
found to be more simple than appears; and, in fact, its chief charac-
teristic is that it is a system ; every separate batch of plants must be
prepared to come on in its proper time, with no excessive glut to
bewilder the cultivator at any time, and never a deficiency of good
things to make a cheerful display at any time in the whole round of
the year.
I must now pause, but I wall just hint that the principal subjects
for plunging are, for early spring. Snowdrops, Crocuses, Hyacinths,
and Tulips ; for late spring, yellow Alyssum, white Iberis, rosy
Aubrietia, sparkling Dielytra. Tot early summer, Stocks, Eoses
brought on in pits or by slow forcing, Cytisus, Deutzias flowered
in cold pits, Rhododendrons, and a few of the more showy annuals
grown in frames ; for succession, Geraniums, Calceolarias, and all
the rest of the summer, flowers ; for September, Sedum fabarium ;
for October, British ferns, then all fresh and bright, with any odds
and ends of colour to light them up ; for November, Chrysanthe-
mums ; for December, Ivies, Conifers, and Berry-bearing Shrubs,
and so on to the spring bulbs again. But this part of the subject
must be enlarged upon, and the next task will be to work out a
good Plunger's Catalogue, which I shall attempt next month.
THE AUEICULA.. *
BT JOHN WALSH.
Chaptee III. — The Pink and Peime eoe Geowth and Blooming.
NE of the most interesting things to be learnt on Auricula
growing is the waywardness of the flower itself; like
true nobility, it has individual character and a will of
its own. The beginner, who is now looking for blooms
of his best varieties, must not be surprised if some that
are described as grey-edged make their appearance with edges of
green ; if some that are described as having the body colour heavily
laid on and sharply defined, appear with a blurry and irregular
colouring ; and if some of the most constant of all appear " pin-
eyed," that is, with the stamens showing above the tube. But I
find I am insensibly driving into a groove that the Editor begged
me to keep out of; he said to me, " Let the reader have your science
with as small an admixture as possible of technicalities, for terms
THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 103
that we commonly use and understand are to the uninitiated scarcely
better than a kind of slanj?." jN'ow, I hope before I have done to
have a chapter on properties, and to illustrate it, so that it may be
useful for any length of time to come ; but I must say a word upon
the subject now just as an introduction to the selection I shall offer,
to enable the beginner to appreciate the points that a florist must
keep in view in estimating the values of auriculas. The reason I
bring forward the li^t now is, that the golden moment has arrived
for the inspection and comparison of Auriculas ; and if there is any
value at all in my list, it will be doubly, trebly valuable in the
month of April than in any other month throughout the year.
What is there in nature more peculiarly noble and beautiful than
the disposition of the flowers in a truss borne on a stout pillar, and
the rich ground colour of the flowers in a first-rate show variety?
Now, one of the most important properties is bold trussing, the pillar
stiff" and strong, the pips set out upon its summit symmetricalh-, and
enough flowers open at one time to give the truss a rich and com-
plete appearance. As to the pips, or individual flowers, they must
be flat, stout, circular, quite smooth ; the eye must be circular, the
edging must be sharp and pure of its kind; the body colour heavy,
velvety, and very clearly defined; and the paste, which is within
and surrounding the eye, must be pure and mealy, as if just scraped
off a butterfly's wing. But all this we must deal with some day
at greater length, for it is of profound importance. Let us now pick
out from the long list of named varieties a few that every lover of
these beauties must have.
SELrs.
LigJithoch/s Meteor Flag. — This always disappoints at first, but
surprises at last, does it not so, brother growler of these vegetable
jewels ? It opens thin, uneven, and of a dark slate colour, but soon
becomes flat, fully expanded, and a glorious violet-blue. Tnere is,
perhaps, a little too much colour, but I know not how to beat it in
the class of blues. The foliage is mealy, the plant grows well, and
forms a noble specimen.
Martin's Mrs. iStui'rocli. — A really perfect flower, circular, smooth,
and flat ; the body colour rich dull maroon-crimson, the paste solid
and pure, leaves mealy ; not a strong grower, and not to be depended
on for a fine truss.
Spaldmrfs Blac]:Urd. — A very fine self, with rich and well-
painted maroon body colour, superb in shape and paste. Rather
weak in the stem, and when not well grown the pips hang, indicating
weak footstalks. Yet no one can do without this famous show
variety. It is one of the gems of the family.
Sim's Video n. — In the style of Blackbird, but darker and less
perfect in colouring. It makes a fine figure when allowed to carry
a great many pips in the truss, say nine to twelve at least, for thin-
ning riiins it.
Smith's Mrs. Smith. — A fine old variety, fiir from perfect, but
calculated to delight the beginner, and quite incapable of oftending
the most experienced grower. The ground colour is extra dark, a
104 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
kind of black violet ; there is scarcely euougli paste. The foliage is
beautiful, aud the plant is a good grower.
Srnith''s Formosa. — This is a charming mauve-coloured self, rich,
lively, very attractive, and with only a few imperfections, that do not
obtrude upon tlie attention so long as the colour is fresh.
yetJierirooiVs Othello. — A most superb show flower, the carriage
grand, the flower large, opening flat and smooth ; the body colour
rich and dark, like most highly-finished violet velvet ; the paste
heavy and pure.
GREEN EDGED.
Sudsoii's Apollo. — One of the very best in style and habit. The
edge is light green, bright and sharp ; the ground colour seldom
varies from a good tone of bright purple, and the paste is pure. It
is usually small in both leaf and flower.
Paijes Chainplon. — This is probably the best green-edged flower
known, though it is no easy matter to select one as the best in any
class where there are so many. The edge of this flower is bright
green and smooth ; it is superbly coloured with a purple ground,
and has an irreproachable paste. It is weak inhabit, and has a smalt
foliage.
Leifjlis Colonel Taylor. — A fine large flower, quite circular, with
beautiful green edge, black ground, circular paste, and pale lemon
eye. Like manj- other first-class sorts, it is not over strong, but I
never had occasion to consider it weak. Sometimes the ground
colour is defective, but it never entirely disappoints. ^_^ ^
Booth's Freedom. — This is certainly a grand flower, the edge
being of a lively green, the ground intense black, and the paste
perfect. It is decidedly a bad doer, or (reaierabering the caution
about using technicalities), it is delicate in constitution, and will
puzzle the beginner to flower it well.
Jloorc's Violet. — This has an impure edge, and a broad ground of
the loveliest shade of light violet. The paste is thin, and the tube
soon fades from primrose to white. "With all its feminine aspect and
frailties it is one of the most attractive and pleasing of all auriculas,
and therefore I put it down for the beginner's first purchase.
Beestoiis Apollo. — A fine dark green edge, black ground, and
pale lemon eye, a decidedly good flower, and the plant has a good
habit, and increases fast.
GEEY EDGED.
Fletcher's Mary Ann. — A good grey edge and dark brown body
colour, the paste not perfect, the edge yellow. The flower is large
and smooth.
Syke.ss Complete. — A fine edge and black ground, the paste
round, the eye yellow ; first-rate.
Chcethani's Lancashire Hero. — I have always considered this the
best of the class, the equal, in fact, and the proper companion to,
Page's Champion. The flower is large, admirably shaped, the edge
varies from green to grey (as is the case with many others), the
ground is black, paste circular and pure, eye orange. The plant haa
a good habit and small foliage.
Fletcher's Ne Plus Ultra. — This is pre-eminently a beginner's
THE l^LUllAL WOKLD AM) GAKDEX GUIDE. 105
ilower, because of its showy style ; the accomplished grower may
consider it coarse and uneven. It is very lar<;e. The edge is
usually a good clean grey, the colour intense black, paste good, and
eye pale yellow. AVith some growers it does not thrive, with others
it is one of the best in respect ot" growth.
Waterhouse's Conqueror of Europe. — A fine old variety, with
deep purple ground and orange eye ; in all its characters splendid.
Chapman s Sopliia. — A medium-sized rather stariy flower, edge
good, though broken in upon by the ground colour, which is a rich
purple of the same shade as Matilda, tlie eye pale yellow. The
leaves of this are serrated and slightly mealy. Its one great fault is
the overpowering strength of the body colour ; taken all in all, it is
a gem of the first water.
Lighthody s Richard Headly. — The pip is a good shape. The
edge and colour (black) are good, the paste is angular (a great
fault), the eye orange. The leaves are pointed and lined with white.
Altogether a charming variety.
WniTE EDGED.
Taylor s Glonj. — An old flower of the finest quality ; the flower
rather small, the edge clear white, the ground rich reddish-purple,
the paste a true circle, the eye pale lemon : foliage mealy. Plant
rather tender. It is impossible to see a good truss of this, and
remain an infidel to the auricula. I am sure every one at all sensible
of true beauty will believe in the flower if they will judge of its
capabilities by Taylor's Glory.
Taylor's Favourite. — One of the best of this class, in which, in
truth, there are but few first-rate. The edge is not so white as in
the foregoing, but it is good ; the colour is dark velvety maroon, the
paste is good, the eye is clear orange : foliage silvery green, and
slightly mealy ; plant robust, and carrying a tine truss.
IIepii:orth''s True Briton. — A fine large Hower, not to be depended
on to open flat, the edge white and beautiful, the ground fine dark
purple, the paste circular, the eye cJear orange, i'ine bold foliage
and habit good.
Lighihody's Countess of Wilton. — ]^rot equal in style to the
foregoing, but quite an exhibition flower, and the habit so good that
it is equally adapted to the practised cultivator and the beginner.
The edge is white and good, the colour dark chesnut, but marred
through being splashed with meal. The plant is a good grower,
with mealy foliage, carrying a errand truss.
Chectham's Countess of Wilton. — A nice greyish white edge, solid
purple colour, circular paste, and orange eye ; foliage smooth. Not
first-rate, but nearly so.
Supposing the foregoing not to suffice for all our readers, I oflfer
the following selections of what I consider the next best: —
Selfs. — Kaye's Jupiter, Redman's Metropolitan, Clegg's Blue
Bonnet, Barker's Nonsuch, AVhittaker's True Blue, Sim's Eliza,
Chapman's Squire Smith, Ealkner's Hannibal (this and Blackbird
are not wanted in the same collection), Headly 's Aurora, Betteridge's
Brutus, Gorton's Stadtholder, Lightbody's Admiral of the Blue,
Spalding's Bessie Bell, Martin's Eclipse.
106 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
G-EEEN Edged. — Ollier's Lady Wilbraham, Clegg's Lady Bluclier,
Hepworth's Robin Hood, Hilton's Freeman, Lightbody's Inkernian,
Lighibody's Lord Lynedoch, Lightbody's JStar of Bethlehem,
Beestou's Fair Flora, Dickson's JJuke of Wellicgton, Dickson's
Prince Albert, Dickson's Earl Grey, Smith's Waterloo, Niven's
Lovely Ann (green or grey), Franklin's Colonel.
Geet Edged. — Maclean's Unique, Popplewell's Conqueror,
Kenyon's Ringleader, Dickson's Lady Jane Grey, Grimes's Privateer,
Headly's Superb (not wanted with Waterhouse's Conqueror),
Smith's General Bolivar, Headley's Stapleford Hero, Hedge's
Britannia,"Lightbody's Alma, Wilmer's Squire Chilman, Barlow's
Morning Star.
White Edged. — Gairn's Model, Heap's Smiling Beauty,
Lightbody's Fair Maid (a most beautiful, indeed, a wonderful
variety, but with faults that exclude it from the list of the very-
best,) Smith's Ne Plus Ultra, Campbell's Robert Burns, Clegg's
Crucifix, Hughes's Pillar of Beauty, Lee's Bright Venus, Lee's
Earl Grosvenor, Poll's Regulator, Taylor's Incomparable, Wood's
Delight.
I have bestowed some days in the preparation of these lists, and
I hope they will suffice for my present contribution on my favourite
flower. There is just one thing I must say, that I have thought of
floral merit only, and not of price, and consequently some of those
I name are dear, and some are cheap. The average price of auri-
culas is half-a-crown each for the cheapest ; from that lowest
gcale the prices range up to twenty to thirty shillings each. As
there are very few who grow them for sale, I would advise intending
purchasers who cannot ascertain the prices of varieties in their own
districts, to send to Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, for his catalogue,
for he is the largest trade grower of florists' flowers in the country,
and in his catalogue the prices of all the good ones will be found, as
in his admirably-managed nursery are to be found the plants. I have
the Editor's permission in this case, which is peculiar, as it is the
rule to avoid, as far as possible, naming traders.
SOME STRIKma PLANTS TO BE GROWN FROM SEED
FOR THE CHOICE GARDEN.
BY KAEL PEOSPEE.
|N the preceding papers on sub-tropical plants, I have
sought to ingratiate the reader into a love of true beauty,
apart from that meretricious Jiat colouring and harsh
outlines common to your bedding system. Therefore
I have pointed out which are the best of the canuas,
the castor-oils, the solanums, and other fine plants that can be raised
with such skill as most amateur gardeners possess, and at so trifling
an outlay as to be obtainable, as one might say, for nothing. I shall
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 107
now enumerate some fine subjects that require no mysterious pro-
cesses and no costly appliances, and which the lovers of true beauty
ought to grow, for they have all the points of interest that belong to
plants that are costly and of great renown. Without further pre-
face, I shall proceed.
LoYE Lies Bleeding. — Amaranfhus ccnidatus. — I have seen in
a " choice garden" this splendid plant mixed with various others in
a long border, and the eflect of its long crimson tails, some of them
two or three feet long, like great ropes of velvet, was truly delight-
ful. Sow in a pan early in April, and place on a gentle hot-bed. If
no hot-bed, shut up the seed in a frame ; it will soon be up. Prick
the plants out into a bed in a frame as soon as they are large enough
to handle, and during showery weather in May, transplant them to
the border, which should be deeply dug and, enriched with manure
two or three weeks before the time of planting.
Prince's Feather. — Amaranthus Injpochondriaciis. — Treat this
in the same way as the last, but plant it further back. It makes a
very effective bed, but is more effective if mixed with something
graceful.
Amaranthus melanchoUcus is the well-known claret- coloured
beddi:-!g-plant. It must be grown in the same way as the above, but
it is well to sow the seed about the 1.5th of March. However, the
first week in April will do very well.
Arundo conspicua. — This fine grass grows in the style of the
Pampas, but is neither so gracefwl nor so tall ; but it is indis-
pensable to the choice garden because of its peculiar beauty and its
abundance of flower spikes from June to the middle of Kovember.
Sow the seed in April, and shut it up in a frame, keeping it moist
by means of moss laid over, or a square of glass. When the plants
are up, give air, and in June plant them out in some very well shel-
tered place six inches apart. In the month of April following,
transplant them to the places they are to decorate, and there let
them remain. The stations should be previously prepared by deep
digging and abundant manuring. This grass loves moisture, but if
planted in a wet place, is apt to die in winter ; therefore it is safer
to plant it on elevated spots, and make amends by giving plenty of
■water during the summer. In places where it is used largely, as at
Battersea Park, they sow seed every year, to have a good stock of
plants in case of losses in the winter. No doubt the last winter
killed many. This is matter for regret, as the plant is not in its
prime till three years old.
Artemisia annua is an elegant plant, with a peculiar and pleasing
shade of green, and agreeably odoriferous. It is well adapted to
introduce amongst flowers to give variety and relief, to help us out
of our monotony, and our dead level of carpet patterns. Sow in
March or April on any sunny border, and in due time plant out
where wanted.
The Bocconia. — I have had the honour to introduce the Boc-
conia to cultivation on the continent, and while I remain here I shall
hope to see it in the English choice garden. This plant is of most
quick growth, the great leaves are deeply notched, and with much of
whitish colour. The flowers are like poppies, but not singly, as we
108
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
are used to see poppies, but iu great thyrses above the noble leaves,
and the colour rose, or pink, or white. It belongs to the poppy
family, so I shall not be suspected of making my description after
the conlcar de rose which the Gallic writers cultivate. To grow the
Bocconia, sow the seed in gentle heat in February or March. April
BOCCOXIA JAPOXICA.
is time enough, but an earlier time is better. A nice hot-bed is the
proper place for the seed pan, but as a frame becomes a hothouse
when the sun shines, those who have no hot-bed mav raise the plants
m a frame only. When the plants have three or four leaves they
should be potted separately in light rich soil, such as I have before
advised for such things, and be kept in frames or in the greenhouse
THE FLOEAL WOELD A^^D GAEDEN GUIDE. 109
till toe beginning of June, and should then be planted out. In
sheltered places they will all survive a mild winter in England, but in
exposed districts they will probably perish. The most hardy of all are
Bocconia cordata and B. Jajyonica, and these are also the two best for
plantiDg out. It would be well to keep a few in pots, shifting them
oa to pots of at least six inches diameter during the summer. These,
the second year, would take the place of any that the winter destroyed.
A good plan to protect such things in winter is to place over them
large empty flower-pots, and cover the flower-pots with a heap of
straw or cone of coal-ashes. Bocconia frutescens is equally adapted
for the garden in summer, but is the most tender, and must be
taken up before winter if it is desired to keep it.
Scotch Thistle — Onopordon acanthmm. — This is supposed
to be well known, but it is not, for many inferior plants are substi-
tuted for it. I advise that the seed be purchased under the
Latin name, and that not a word be said about Scotch thistle. The
proper place for it is in front of the shrubbery, it is too coarse for
the flower-garden. Sow where the plants are to be, and thin them
to at least three feet apart.
Chamcepuce diacantha. — This is one of the most elegant and re-
markable plants of late years introduced to our gardens. It is in
the fashion of a dwarf thistle, the leaves lying flat on the ground ;
the colour of the leaves is a greyish-green, and they are formidably
armed with long glistening silvery spines. The proper way to treat
this is to sow seeds every year, as the plants are in perfection the
second year, anrl after that may be expected to die ofi". vSow the
seeds two in a pot, using 6()-size, and place the pots in a gentle heat.
Some of the seeds are a long time before they vegetate, therefore do
not be in haste to throw them away. The plants need not be potted
off", but in June may be planted out, and in September should be
taken up for the winter. A rich mellow soil should be chosen, and
the position should be sunny. In case the plants should not be of
fair size by the middle of June, do not plant them out, but pot them
separately in 60-size, and plunge them the first season. The next
season plant them out in May. It makes a fine edging to a clump
of any such noble plants as solanums, and is quite worthy to fill a bed.
Peeenxial CucuiiBEE — Cuciwiis pcrouiis. — This is an unknown
plant, to make it popular will be one of the duties of my stay
in England. At home we use it to cover rough banks and tall trel-
lises ; it runs about freely, and makes a grand display of large hoary
leaves. It is essentially ornamental. The plant is quite Jiardy,
and displays its full beauty and vigour onlij ivhen left several years in
the ground. I shall not speak of other plants of the cucumber, or
gourd tribes, because their beauties and uses are pretty well known.
Ferula communis. — This is a splendid fern-like plant, well
adapted for the choice garden. Sow the seed in May in the open
border in the kitchen garden or reserve ground, covering it with a
tile till it germinates. Transplant them a foot apart, and let them
remain till the second season, when they may be planted where they
are to remain for embellishment ; on the margin of the shrubbery,
and near to water scenes, they are noble objects.
110 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
Ferdinandla emlaens. — The noblest, perhaps, of all the race of
sub-tropicals ; the stately habit and the noble leaves are unsur-
passed. It is a stove shrub, and therefore must not be planted out
till June. The seeds require a brisk heat and some care, and the
plants should be grown on aa fast as possible. I ought to have
noticed this earlier, because the seed should bs sown in February or
March. However, if sown now, they vvill make good plants by
June, for they are of rapid growth. Where only a few are required
it will be best to buy plants in June from a good nursery.
Striped-leaved Maize — Zea mays variegata. — This is, or nearly,
as good as the variegated Arimdo donax, which is sometimes described
as the finest of all variegated plants. Sow early in April, in pots,
in a moderate heat, and plant out in May. It grows four to five
feet high, and has beautifully-striped leaves.
Verbesina verhascifolia. — This is a fine companion to the stately
Ferdinandia. Treat as advised for solanums in the January number,
page 15. Here I pause once more, in a belief that I have made a
little pleasant work for some of the gardeners. May none who
follow me be disappointed.
[Messrs. Hooper and Co., of Central Avenue, Covent Garden,
have obligingly furnished a figure of Bocconia Japonica, to illus-
trate Mr. Prospers glowing but strictly just eulogy of its beauties.
"We observe in Messrs. Hooper's catalogue good figures of B. fru-
tescens and Chamcepuce diacantha. — Ed. F. "W.]
CULTIYATION OF SALSAFY.
EY E. WHITEHOUSE.
[HIS excellent root is not extensively known, and there-
fore cannot be said to be generally appreciated. Yet it
is an excellent esculent, and deserves to be cultivated
in every kitchen garden, for it has three good qualities.
In the first place, it may be cooked several ways, and is
always delicious ; in the second place, it comes into use during
winter, when the garden does not contribute largely to the table ;
and in the third place, the sprouts from the roots left in the ground
all the winter may be used as a vegetable in spring, when, perhaps,
there is nothing to be got but cabbage and sea-kale.
We are now enjoying nice dishes of these sprouts, which are
like asparagus, and very acceptable they are, for the winter de-
stroyed our spinach, Brussels sprouts, and in fact every kind of
Brassica, except small cahbai^ie-plants, that will be of no use till
quite the end of May. Therefore I advise those of your readers
who happen to be unacquainted with this root to try a bed of it, or
say just a small patch, and if they find it to their liking, they can
next season grow it to any extent they please. I am cautious of
recommending any one not acquainted with it to grow it largely at
first, because experience has taught me that, as a rule, vegetables
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. Ill
that are not popular are generally worthless. However, this is not
the ease with salsafy, and I hope many readers of the Eloeal
WoKLD will grow a hed of it this season.
The way to treat it is nearly the same as for growing parsnips
and carrots, but it requires a rather richer soil than those roots, and
therefore it is desirable to trench the ground deeply, and put manure
at the bottom of the trench to coax the roots down, and prevent
them forking. But if a piece of ground can be set out for the pur-
pose that was heavily manured last year, deep digging will suffice,
and as for the rest, it must be farmed out for sowing in the same
way as a carrot bed. The soil I till is a rather dry and poor sand,
and I find that the rows may be a foot apart, and when the plants
are up, I thin them to nine inches apart in the row. But in those
deep, fertile, sandy loams, in which carrots grow to perfection, I
should put the rows fifteen inches apart, and I should thin the
plants to a foot apart in the rows. As for the rest, I need say but
little. Sow as early as possible in April ; thin in good time, and
keep down weeds. In November take up some for use, and store
in sand, leaving a few for spring sprouts. The cooking is performed
in precisely the same manner as that of parsnips, if they are to be
served as roots. A more elegant way is to boil them till tender,
then mash them with butter, and fry them in butter a nice brown.
The flavour is then much like an oyster, and indeed this dish is some-
times called the " vegetable oyster."
As for the roots left in the ground, let them be covered with a
ridge of clean sand or coal-ashes in March, and about six inches
deep. Erom time to time, as the shoots rise from the roots, that is
to say, the flower stems, cut them, and boil them, and eat them in
the same way as asparagus. At a time when vegetables are usually
scarce, any really eatable dish is worth attention.
A SELECTION OE EIEST-CLASS HEEBACEOUS PLANTS
OE EASY CULTUEE IN ALL PAETS OETHE BRITISH
ISLES.
BY THE 0'SHA^'E.
lEEHAPS a concise selection of these may be useful to
many who are acquainted with them as a class. I
have taken some pains to make the following selection,
and can confidently recommend them. I might easily
have found one hundred rarer or one hundred more
difficult to grow or obtain, but my object has been to select one
hundred which would give satisfaction to all, and in all parts, not
doubting that those who procure and grow them will be led to make
a fuller and more satisfying acquaintance with plants as beautiful as
any known, and which our climate suits so well. They are as
follows : —
Anemone apennina, fulgens, sylve-^tris, and coronata (in variety),
Adonis vernalis, A. Japonica Honerine Jobert (and other varie-
112 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
ties), Aquilegia alpina, Oalifornica, and coerulea (three quite distinct
and each first-rate), Delphiniums (in splendid variety according to
taste), Pa3onia, ditto, Ranunculus a;raplexicaiilis acris pi. (more nseful
and easier cultivated than the white), R. a-conitinus fl. pL, Epimedium
pinnatnm elegans, Dielytra spectabilis, Baptisia australis orexaltatn,
Coronilla varia, Gralega officinalis alba, Lafchyrus grandiflorus, L.
latitblius albus, L. rotuudifolius, Orobus lathyroides, vernus, and varie-
ties, Lupiuus polyphyllus, Achillea -Egyptiaca, Eupatorium, anre:<,
and millefolium rosea (a fine thing), Aster versicolor, elegans,
turbinellus, and amellus, Echinops Ritro, Pyrethrum roseum
(single and double in variety). Phlox (a varied selection of the her-
baceous kinds), Campanula carpatica (and its white and " bicolor"
varieties), C. persicifolia grandis, macrantha, pyramidalis, and rotun-
difolia, Statice latifolia, Papaver bracteatum and orientale, Gentiana
asclepiadia. Iris pallida, I. Ka)mpferi (and its varieties in good light
and deep soil), I. Germanica (this may be had in striking and beau-
tiful variety), I. De Bergii, pumila, Jacquesiana, amoena, flavescens,
florentina, and ochroleuca, Tritoma grandis and glaucescens, Ste-
nactis speciosus, Hesperis matroualis pi. (in variety), Cheiranthus
Cheirii (fine old double varieties), C. alpinus, Hoteia Japonica (our
climate is not everywhere good enough to well develop this, there-
fore it should have a good position and good soil, and even with that
I have never seen it so fine as when well grown in pits), Potentilla
(the best varieties), Trollius napellifolius, Pentstemon (in fine
variety), Yeronica amethystina and corymbosa, Erodium Manescavi
(nearly always in flower), Tradescautia virginica (and its delicately
tinted varieties), Lythrum roseum superbum, Hemerocallis flava,
Pyrethrum uliginosum, Armeria cephalotes, Geum chilense, Physo*
stegia virginiana, Achillea Ptarmica, fl. pL, Symphytum bohemicum
and caucasicum, Eryngium amethystinum and alpinum, Dodecatheon
Meadia (and varieties), Monarda purpurea and didyma. Salvia
argentea (chiefly for its fine foliage), Corydalis nobilis (rare), He-
lianthus multiflorua pi. (rather coarse, but very showy and good),
Alyssum saxatile, Iberis " corrjeafolia," saxatilis, Tenoreana (a
charming plant on Jir/lit soil) and corifolia (very dwarf), Arabis
albida, of course, Aubrietia grandiflora, Hepatica angulosa and tri-
loba (in variety), Helleborus niger major and atrorubens, Centran-
thus ruber (and white variety), Epilobmm angustifolium (and white
variety), these are native plants, robust habit, almost coarse, but
withal very showy and fine ; Czackia liliastrum (liable to tempt slugs),
Pentstemon procerus, for fronts of borders ; Sedum " fabaria,"
handsome of habit and profuse of bloom — a capital late summer
and autumn plant ; Rudbeckia l^ewmannii, a splendid thing in rich
soil ; Gaillardia pinnatifida, grandiflora, maxima, and Loeselii, Eunkia
grandiflora (sweet, white, and beautiful, seems shy to flower), Litho-
spermum fruticosum (splendid for front of borders or rock work),
Pinks (especially the stronger ones in the way of Anna Boleyn, and
there are some nice newish things in this way) ; Carnations and
Picotees (in strong good kinds), Linum narbonense, alpinum, mo-
nogynum, and perenne album, Malva campanulata (a beautiful scarce
trailing kind, very charming in flower, perhaps not hardy, but
might prove so on rockwork), Genista sagittalis, Ononis arvensis
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 113
nlba, An thy His montana (an exquisite dwarf plant), Astragalus
Monspessulanus, Vicia cracca (makes a fine border plant), Qiltiothera
niacrocarpa and acaulis, Morina longifolia, Liatris spicata, Doronicutn
(•aucasicum. Lobelia, the herbaceous kinds in variety (they perish
in winter on wet soils, and in such places should be stored in shallow
boxes under stages, or any such place) ; Platycodon grandiflorum,
Asclepias tuberosa, a good thing in good soil, and when well esta-
blished ; Onosma taurica, Anchusa italica, Phygelius capensis (best
against walls, etc.). Euphorbia cyparissias, Helonias buUata (moist
place).
POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE.
[OLYSTICHU:\I ANGULAEE is the most generally
useful of this genus of British ferns, both because of its
sportiveness and ready adaptation to garden culture.
It is beautiful in all its forms, and a few of them are ex-
quisitely beautiful, and as well adapted for the green-
house or the fern-case as any ferns we possess. In its normal form
this is a rather robust habited fern, with a tufted scaly caudex, and
numerous lax, spreading, lanceolate fronds of a full bright green
colour, varying in length from two to four feet, of which the densely
scaly stipes extend to about one-sixth of the entire length. The
fronds are twice-divided, with numerous narrow pinnae, the pinnules
of which are almost crescent-shaped, with a distinguishing anterior
lobe ; they are more or less serrated, the serratures tipped with a
slender bristle. The fructification is plentifully disposed on the
upper part of the frond, the sori are small, numerous, brown, and
add much to the beauty of the under sides of the fronds.
This fern is strictly evergreen, the old fronds retaining their
form and fine colour till long after the new growth has overspread
them, so that sometimes it is advisable to cut away the whole of the
old fronds when the crowns begin to push in spring. It is widely
distributed, and appears to range over cold and warm climates with
indifference, being found in Sweden and Norway, Spain, Italy,
(xreece, the Canaries, Azores, in Abyssinia, in many parts of North
and South America, in India, Java, China, and Singapore. In
Britain it is plentiful in the south and west, scarce in the north ; it
attains its highest luxuriance of growth in districts where both the
soil and the atmosphere are humid, and though one of the hardiest
ferns known, it is much influenced by temperature, and its warmer
habitats present us with far finer examples than the colder ones.
To cultivate it is a most easy matter, in which respect it differs from
P. lonchitis, which is unquestionably a difiicult fern to manage.
P. angulare requires a soil in which mellow loam predominates ; but
it will grow well in peat or leaf-mould, or in common garden soil,
improved by an admixture of cocoa-nut fibre refuse. The smaller
kinds, when grown in pots, require the compost to be prepared for
them with more care than the robust forms ; and the best mixture
TOL. IT. — >'0. IT. 8
POLTSTicnnr axgflaee yae. gsaxdiceps.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 115
for them is one consisting of equal parts loam, peat, leaf-mould, and
silver sand, the pots to be well drained, the plants kept shaded from
sunshine, and moderately watered. Though partial to a moist
atmosphere, this fern is not thirsty ; indeed, we have known the
pretty vdiViQij 2?rolifenim, which is largely grown in the nurseries
about London to furnish fronds for bouquets, to be as dry as dust
for weeks together, and yet not betray the slightest distress.
The best of the varieties (about seventy in number) are the
following: —
BrachiatuYii. — Fronds densely leafy, and very scaly, the pinnules
much overlapping, and cut into many small-toothed divisions ; height
twelve to twenty inches.
CoRcimium. — Spreading, rich, and plumy, very bright shining
green, the pinnae narrow and tapering, pinnules distinctly stalked
and spiny toothed, extremely graceful and bright ; height thirty to
forty inches.
Gristatum. — The same as the species, except that every frond
terminates in a crispy crest or tassel : height twenty to forty inches.
Gracile. — Fronds broad, thin- textured, tapering, and spreading,
the pinnules distant, narrow, and toothed. A light and elegant
variety ; height twenty to forty inches.
Grcmdiceps. — Fronds deep green, the pinnae more or less par-
tially or wholly divided into pinnules, or lobes, which are spiny,
each pinna ending in a spreading crest, and the upper part of the
frond branching into numerous divisions, each of which is terminated
by a crest ; height twelve to twenty-four inches.
Grandidens. — Thick-textured, dark green fronds, irregularly
divided, the secondary divisions deep cut into sharp conspicuous
teeth. A handsome variety, adapted for pots and cases ; height
twelve to twenty inches.
Imhricatum. — Spreading, twice-divided fronds, the colour a fine
rich deep green, the pinnules overlap, which gives it a ricli appear-,
ance. A very fine exotic-looking variety, adapted for the case ; height
twelve to twenty inches.
Latipes. — Fronds on long stipes, which are very scaly, very broad,
deep green, pinnae rather distant, and almost wedge-shaped, pinnules
much toothed, distinctly lobed at the base, and the pinnule next
adjacent to the rachis very much lengthened. A bold, handsome, yet
graceful variety for the rockery or for pots ; height thirty to fifty
inches.
Plumosum. — Very spreading wide fronds, pinnae more than an
inch wide at the base, suddenly tapering at the point, pinnules
crowded, deeply cut into narrow lobes. A rare variety, well adapted
for the open air, pots, or cases ; height twenty to forty inches.
Proliferum. — Very spreading broad fronds, of a deep green colour,
the younger ones having a somewhat hoary appearance, the pinnules
are crowded, slender, and conspicuously stalked ; the appearance of
this fine f^rn is greatly improved by the crowded state of the fronds,
owing to the plentiful production at their base of bulbil plants ;
these may be taken off* at any time, and if planted in sandy peat, will
root immediately, and soon begin to produce others like themselves.
1J6 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
This is undoubtedly the best variety, and essential in even the
smallest collection of ferns, and it may be grown ei^ually well on a
shady rockery, in a greenhouse, or a fern-case ; height eighteen to
thirty inches ; but in this respect variable, some specimens never
making fronds more than twelve inches long.
JProlifcrum Wollastoni. — Less profusely bulbil-beariug than tbe
last, and differing from it in having more distant divisions and the
exceedingly finely-divided condition of the lower parts of the fronds,
which renders it a most elegant object ; height thirty to fifty inches.
Parvissimum. — This is a diminutive fern, bearing at first sight some
resemblance to proliferum, but soon found to be quite distinct. The
fronds are lance-shaped, the pinna? broad and overlapping like the
tiles of a house, the pinnules are not deeply cut, and are all elegantly
rounded on their anterior edges, and finely toothed. It is one of
tne prettiest miniature ferns in cultivation. This variety has been
received from Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co., Exeter ; all the
foregoing have been obtained from Mr. Sim, of Foot's Crav, Kent.
S H.
CULTIVATION OF ASTEES FOR EXHIBITION AND
DECOEATION.
BY WILLIAM HILLS.
N" the April number of the Floral "Woeli), 1S66 (page
116), I presented the reader M'ith a note on stocks and
asters, to which I will now refer them, as in it will be
found some useful information on the varieties that are
most likely to give satisfaction. I shall now speak only
of the cultivation.
To begin at the beginning, it is very important to get good seed ;
and in order to do this, it is necessary to pay a good price, and to
have it from a respectable house, which will be a guarantee for the
genuineness of the article purchased. Much, however, of the want
of success with asters arises from sowing too early, and neglecting
to give them sufficiently generous treatment, so that the seed often
gets blamed when it is the management which is at fault. Asters
should not be sown before the latter end of Apiil or the beginning
of May ; nothing whatever can be gained by sowing earlier, but
much is likely to be lost, for if they receive a check during growth
from a few days' extra cold weather, it renders them very liable to
the attacks of green-fly, or any other kind of vermin ; and after a
sudden severe check of this kind, it is almost impossible ever to get
them up to their standard of beauty. Therefore, remember first of
all, that moist warm weather is most favourable to this tribe of
plants. Many among our amateur friends look at the pictures of
the beautiful varieties lately brought out, and then heave a halt-
sigh, as much as to say, " Ah, that is all very well in a nursery or in
a picture, but it is quite out of the question for me to produce such
flowers as those." Now, my dear friends, this is not by any means
the case, and if you will only give a moderate amount of care and
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 117
attention, you will have flowers this year wliich will be both a credit
and a pleasure to you, and equal to any picture of asters ever
painted.
They should be sown on a spent hot-bed, or in pans or pots placed
in a close pit or frame ; the plants will make their appearance
in a few days, w^hen you must give tliem plenty of air. AYlien
they are about an inch high, spread some fine soil over the surface
of a slight hot-bed, into which transplant your seedlings at a little
distance apart, and let them remain there till they are three or
four inches high. Xow that asters are so perfect in shape and
quilling, and of every variety of colour, from white to a deep
crimson and purple, a well-arranged set of them would have a fine
appearance on a ribbon border or in a geometric garden, and would
remain gay from the 1st of August until cut down by frost. If,
therefore, you desire to grow them either in ribbons or masses,
prepare the soil generously with old dung : that which suits them
exactly is a mixture of lio;ht sandy loam and rotten dung. AVhen
the ground is in good order, wait for a favourable opportunity,
and after some nice showery weather, transplant them into the
border, and water them for a few days ; should the weather prove
very hot and dry, the watering must be continued, for if they get
the least check through drought, the insects (which seem as though
they were always waiting in ambush) will pounce upon them and
claim them as their own. Should this misfortune occur, it will be
advisable either to syringe or sprinkle with tobacco-water, taking care
that some of it goes into the centre of each plant, when the enemy
will be effectually dislodged.
Supposing that it is desired to grow them for exhibition, the
plants should be finally planted out for blooming in well-manured
soil, in rows ten inches from each other. Keep them well watered
during dry weather, and quite free from weeds, stirring the ground
between the plants occasionally until about the first week in
August, when it will require a good top-dressing of rotten dung
from an old hot-bed, and then a good soaking of water if the
ground appears at all dry. As soon as you have given them the top-
dressing, procure some small stakes and tie them up ; when the
buds are sufficiently developed for you to see which will make the
best flow^ers, thin them out, leaving only three or four to each plant.
The flowers to be exhibited must be protected from the wet and from
injury by the wind.
Among the greatest enemies of the aster may be reckoned
the slugs, and in places infested by these pests it is a somewhat
difficult matter to protect them. Lime is useful in dry weather,
but its efficacy is destroyed by a shower, and so a more desirable
way is to trap them ; this may be done by placing heaps of two
or three fresh cabbage-leaves on either side of them, which will
generally attract the rascals ; but perhaps the most effectual way is
to take out a lantern at night and search the plants individually,
when, with a little perseverance, they may be soon got rid of by this
style of hand-picking.
118
THINNING THE CEOP 01^ FEUITS IN THE OECHAED
HOUSE.
BY HENUT HOWLETT.
|ATUEE provides means for tbinniug the crop ou wild
fruits in seasons of unusual plenty, and probably if the
natural processes of thinning were aided by artificial
thinning, many of our wild fruits would improve, irre-
spective of the more definite mode of improving by
hybridization. But it is quite certain, that to allow trees to bear
beyond a certain limit, tends to throw them back in history, and
cause them to revert back some degrees towards the natural types
from which they sprung. 'We do not mean to say that a Victoria
plum will become a sloe or a buliace by neglect ; but if the tree be
weakened by a succession of very heavy crops, it will at least become
comparatively unfruitful, and what fruits do appear will be small and
flavourless compared with those from a tree in full vigour. As a
general principle, then, the appearance of a large crop should be the
signal for thinning, and our advice to the possessors of fruit
crops, whether under glass or in the open air, is, Thin the fruit.
Eemove a few at once from every part of the tree, so as to leave
the residue pretty evenly dit^tributed. After the lapse of a few
days, thin again, and so on till there are no more left than the tree
can fairly bring to perfection, consistent with its age, and size, and
vigour.
But the matter does not end here. Have you not observed that
the same variety of fruit varies in flavour considerably ? Tou taste
a Eoyal George peach in one garden, and it is delicious ; in another
garden you taste a fruit of the same variety, and it is execrable.
Tou solve the riddle of the diflerence, perhaps, by referring it to influ-
ences of soil, climate, or, as the gardener will perhaps suggest, " We
had a sharp east wind when the fruits were stoning." Now, generally
the flavour of fruits depends on early and judicious thinning. Tou can
only get so much out of a tree. If you have quantity, you must
lose quality ; and if high flavour is desired, we must give the same
rule as before to obtain it, and say again, Thin the fruit ; and begin
the thinning before the strength of the tree has been severely taxed
in the first swelling of the crop.
Growers of forced fruits get such advice as this frequently in
our calendarial notices, but we fear that growers of fruit in orchard
houses and the open quarters do not take the advice to themselves
as they should, for in almost every garden of the country the trees
and bushes have on them larger crops of fruit than they can bring to
perfection ; and to leave the trees to fight it out in their own way
will result in flavourless production, and the weakening of the con-
stitution of every tree so taied beyond its strength. Short hints
are sometimes more efi'ectual than elaborate essays ; therefore we
close here with a repetition of the words. Thin the fruit before the
trees are wealcened.
119
NEWS or THE MONTH.
ExuiBiTioxs OF SvRixo Flom-ers. — There have been held in Loudon during
the past month three exhibitions c f spring flowers : namely, at the gardens of the
Royal Horticultural Soci* ty, March 19 ; in the gardens of the Royal Botanic Society,
March 23 ; and a continuous show by Messrs. Cutbush and Son, of Highgate, at
the Crystal Palace. In the former two displays, Mr. "William Paul, of Cheshunt,
Avas the largest contributor, and in the quality of his flowers distanced all competi-
tors. Some beautiful examples have been shown by Mr. Kirtland, of Albion
Nursery, Stoke Xewington, and Mr. Cutbush, of Barnet. Early tulips have been
presented by Mr. W. Paul in the utmost profusion, and of remarkably fine quality,
with collections of Xarci-sus, forced Roses, and Lilies of the Valley. Peculiarly
interesting have been the fine displays of Cyclamen Persicum, in which Messrs.
E. G. Henderson have, as usual, presented large and beautiful collections; but this
time Mr. Wiggins, gardener to W. Beck, Esq., of Isleworth, presented a dozen
Cychimens that for style and finish were not only better than any others, but
afforded a real surprise to experienced growers cf this charming flower. The last-
named exhibitor has taken the lead, too, this season in Chinese Primulas, showing
handsome plants covered with flowers of immense size, some pure white, others deep
rosy crimson. There have been none to equal them, and of course they have taken
the highest honour.s. Mr. Wiggins's plants were grown from seed of "Williams's
strain," which is well-known to be one of the best. Amongst things curious or par-
ticularly interesting, we may note the following :— From Mr. Cutbush, of Barnet,
Prunus Sinensis albaflorepleno, that is the double white flowering Chinese plum, as
beautiful as the double flowering clierry, and mucli better adapted to form a neat
conservatory tree. From Mr. Ciuikshauk, gardener to J. Lloyd, Esq., of Watford,
Verbena Beauty of Langlet/hury, a beautiful flower, vrhite witii lilac stripes. From
Mr. Paul, Narcissus Queen of the Yelloics, the most beautiful in a collection of
about tliirty sets. From the same, Rose (H.P.) Coeur de Leon, a fine stout glo-
bular flower, the colour rich purplish crimson. From Mr. Watson, of St. Albans,
Tricolor Geranium, Mrs-. Dix, a compact dwarf-growing kind, waih flat round leaves,
edged with gold yellow, the zone ohve and bronze overlaid with deep red, remarkably
handsome. From Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson and Son, Pyrethrum Golden Feather,
a yellow-leaved bedding plant, which promises to be highly efl'ective in the parterre.
From the same. Tricolor Geranium Emma Cheers, which has a lemon-coloured
margin, and a Kne zone shading from chestnut to bright vermilion red. Amongst
many new orchids shown, were two of great interest from Mr. W. Bull, of Chelsea.
The old Phaji's grandifoltus was shown with superbly variegated leaves. There was
also a pretty group of the diminutive and channingiy elegant Odonto;jlossiim Alex-
andres, which flowers most freely in small pots, the flowers varying from pure white
to white with brown spots. Every lover of orchids should look after this gem ; they
need not be told that at present it is costly. The exhibition of the Royal Caledonian
Society took place at Edinburgh on th^ 20th, on which occasion the leading
exhibitors of hyacinths were Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing : and in the amateur
classes Mr. Cowe, gardener to H. W. Hope, Esq., Luff"ness, made the best exhibition,
Avhich indeed was remarkable for excellence. The Liverpool Spring Show was held
on the 13th, and was quite a brilliant aftair. Tne principal exhibitors of hyacinths
here were Mr. Davies, of Liverpool, and Messrs. Cutbush and Son, of Higligate.
Each of these exhibitions has had to contend with dreadful weather, yet the
attendances have been good, proving that Flower Shows retain their popularity, and
if known to be good are pretty sure to be supported. The following are selections of
the most beautiful varieties in the several classes : —
St/acinths.— Lord Wellington, Soifaterre, Grand Lilas, Grandeur _a Meryeille,
Charles Dicken.s, Von Schiller, Auricula Oog, very dark violet pips, with radiating
white or pale eye of great substance ; Gigantea, Koh-i-Noor, General Havelock,
Macaulay, Queen of the Netherlands, Prince Albert, Lord Palmerston, Mont Blanc,
Noble par Merite, Baron von Tuyll, Josephine, a very rich dark vermilion, and pips
of fine substance; De CandoUe, very pale blue, good; Snowball, one of the best of
the whites; Milton, fine deep ruby red; Pieneman, a large pip of great substance,
but loose in the spike; Lamplighter, blackish blue, with pale eye; Howard, Mimosa,
Seraphine, Koh-i-Noor, Alba superbis^ima, one of the best wliites ; Mont Blanc,
Lina, beautiful in finish and colour ; Miss Nightingale, Victoria Regina, Leonidas,
120 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
Le Prophete, Duke of Wellington, Emmeline, Cava ignac, King of the Blues, Blondin,
Fernck Khan, Grand Yainquenr, Haydn, Sultan's Favourite, Mis. James Cutbush,
Orondates, Ar^us, Ida, one of tlie best yellows; Princess Htilena.
Tulips. — Proseipine, violet-shaded rose ; Keizer Kroon, deep red, edged with
yellosv ; Couleur Cardinal, deep scarlet shaded with violet, small but effective ;
Fablola, rosy purple and white ; ^Vhite Pottebakkcr, Van der Neer, violet-shaded,
rose, Tourncsol, Vermilion Biillant, Globe de Piigaud, Duke of York, red edged -with
creamy white ; Queen, white, feathered with crimson ; Biitle, crimson and white :
Thomas More, beautiful deep orange buff; Arcliduc d'Autrichc, superb in form and
colour J Leonarda da Vinci, a fine double red; Duchess of Parma, Stella, Canarv
Bird.
Narcissi. — Bazelman Major, Lord Canning, white, with a yellow cup ; Cleo-
patra, with an orange cup ; Jocrisse, Parfaite, and Regulus ; Grand Monarque.
Gloriosa, the latter a fine white, with a deep yellow cup ; Queen of Yellows, small,
in great bunches, clear yellow.
Crocuses. — Sir Walter Scott, a large variety, lilac striped with white ; Cloth of
Silver; Mammoth, large-flowered white ; Princess of Wales, a fine pure white ;
Princess Alexandra, white, pencilled with purple ; Prince of Wales, bluish violet ;
David Eizzio, Sir John Franklin, purple ; Golden Yellow, Albion, Victoria.
GROUND VINERIES.
(Read by Mr. Bkogme, of the Inner Temple Gardens, at a meeting of the Central
Horticultural Society, February 26.)
2 OW that the gardening world is every day becoming acquainted with the
great utility of these structures, I have thought a few remarks, based
upon practice Avith Wells's ground vineries, might by many be appre-
ciated. The lady and gentleman amateur, the scientific and practical
gardener, have already derived much advantage and pleasure from their
use, and at this moment in many gardens where horticulture is carried out upon just
principles, these sti*uctures are used and recommended. Upon their first appearance
in gardens thej- were exclusively employed for grape-growing, and were carefully
stowed away during the many months in which the vine is dormant ; now they are
kept in active operation during the whole year. The lady amateixr finds that in
them she can manage a crop of grapes, then bring on a few plants for late autumn
and Christmas flowering, and afterwards occupy them with a few miscellaneous
floriculture pets, bedding, and other plants, whilst by others they are used for the
protection of salading, etc. In the present month many ground vineries are devoted
to forcing rhubarb, and I have seen a hot-bed made for them and covered an inch
thick with ashes, into which are plunged pots of Dutch bulbs, hyacinths, tulips, etc.;
and others, again, are used in a similar manner for the propagation of bedding stuff,
and raising seeds of tender plants.
The scientific and practical gardener can apply these miniature houses to a thou-
sand different uses. But a few days ago I saw a fourteen-feet length filled with
hyacinths and tulips, which are intended for our great spring bulb shows, and
nothing could exceed the luxuriance and vigour they possessed. 1 have likewise
seen ground vineries applied to the growth of the Neapolitan violet, and beautifully-
coloured blossoms were being gathered when not a vestige of flower was discernible
in the old-fashioned, dark, dismal box-frame, although both v/ere placed near each
other, and were subjected to the same and equal management. The plan of arrang-
ing the ground vinery for this purpose was extremely simple. In the month of
October last, when all the fruit had been cut fi'om the vines, a bed of the same area
as the vinery was marked out, round which common bricks were laid two deep ; the
bed thus formed was filled witli coal ashes, and the violets, which had previously-
been potted in 32-sized pots, were plunged in it. The plants were thus exposed to
intense light — an agent most essential, as all gardeneis are aware, to the well-being
of this plant. The arrangement for giving air is likewise so perfect in these struc-
tures, that the violets can be exposed wholly in propitious weather ; and should it be
THE FLOEAL WOELD AND G^AEDEN GUIDE. 121
mild with moisture falling, the lids or sides can be raised nearly horizontally, thus
exposing tlie plants to uir, whilst affording protection from wet. During the incle-
ment weatlier we had tin's winter the viner^' was covered witli litter, and thatched
hurdles placed together over the whole in the shape of a span roof. This protection
bade detiance to cold 9" belov/ zero.
During the past season I have seen some magnificent crops of grapes under these
ground vineries. Tlie bunclics were of a good size, the berries well swelled and
above the average i^ize, witli the colouring as perfect as in any that have been cut
from more spacious houses, and the flavour was exquisite.
I find many growers, elated with the success of these vineries, intend applj'ing
them to the growing of stone fruits, such as peaches and nectarines, the trees being
planted out and treated precisely the same as the vines. The slates will be laid
down and perforated at regular distances, so as to admit pegs for the purpose of
pegging down and laying out the branches. The roots being free to act on the out-
side, as in the case of vines, no watering is necessar}', as when these fruits are grown
in pots upon the orchard-house principle ; and the moisture evaporated from the
slates, with which the wood and foliage are in contact, prevents red spider, thrips,
and other insects from multiplying.
I find the best method of cultivating fruits under AVells's ground vineries is as
follows : — At one end of the vinery a hole tAvo feet square, and of about the same
depth, is dug out and filled with a compost of good loam, rotten dung, and a little
road sand ; these should be well incorporated together, previously tlirowing in about
one and a half peck of bones, merely bruised, to afford drainage to the mass, also to
feed the vines during hot weather, or when the heat is so great as to rob the plant
of its natural moisture. The bones will likewise absorb the fluids passing down to
them more readily by being bruised. All being thus prepared, the vine is turned
oat about the middle of March, providing the weather is open and mild, the cane
being introduced and pegged down. Air should be admitted at ten o'clock a.m., by
raising slightly the lights ; this, with the additional air from the bottom of the
frames, will serve to check the vines from making too quick and premature a
growth before the season is sufficiently advanced to assist the formation of the
young parts. The cases should be closed again about two p.m., if possible securing
a little atmospheric warmth, and the vines should at this period be slightly syringed;
the moisture will aid the expansion of the bark and the bursting of the young buds
and leaves. This treatment should be continued until the flowers are expanded,
when syringing must be entirely suspended, and air admitted upon every oppor-
tunity. As soon as the flowers are set, I find moisture applied in tlie form of vapour
highly beneficial ; this can be obtained hy pouiing tepid water upon the slates.
Atmospheric warmth is secured throughout the day, and causes the moisture to
evaporate, thus charging the internal air with an agent highly beneficial. _ As
soon as the grapes have attained the size of sweet peas, the bunches should be
thinned, taking out all ill-shaped and deformed berries, also all those which are in
immediate contact with others, taking care not to remove all the interior berries, or
the bunches will be loose and ill-shapen. At this period the structure should be kept
close, and as much warmth secured as possible, as the critical time of stoning will
have arrived, and a check would prove highly injurious. As soon as colouring com-
mences, as much air should be admitted as is consistent with safet}' from chilling,
and the vinery should be closed sufficiently early to secure, as before stated, as much
natural warmth as possible. If this course be pursued, I feel confident every suc-
cess will attend the operator, and will well repay him for the pains he may bestow ;
the weight and quality of the fruit will equal, if not exceed, that which is grown in
extensive vine-honses.
I have this winter seen a very happy adaptation of the ground vinery. One of
the fourteen-feet vineries was selected, a site facing south was arranged, a pit dug
three feet deep, and the sides bricked with four and a half inch work two feet above
the ground level ; upon the brickwork was laid a wooden plate, and to this the
vinery was fixed, being screwed down at the four corners of each division. The pit
was then filled with cocoa-nut fibre, and such plants as fuchsias, pelargoniums, and
bulbs were placed in it. These grew with great luxuriance, and, as in other
cases where they were all covered with litter and the thatched hurdles, resisted
the intense frosts we experienced in January. The same vinery pit is at this moment
filled with fermenting material, and rhubarb, sea-kale, and salading are being cut,
while there aro cucumbers climbing along the roof and looking as luxuriant as upon
122 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
ridges in sumiupr. Dutch bulbs are also being brought out weekly for the drawing-
room. This plan is merely au enlarged idea of wbat was before exemplified, and
serves to prove how valuable ground vineries are to the horticulturist.
THE CINERARIA.
BY ME. CHAELES TUENEE, OF THE EOTAL NUESEEIES, SLOUGH.
^HP^N we consider its diversity of colour, its adaptation alike for the con-
servatory, the drawing-room, or the bouquet, its bright and cheerful
appeurcuce at a time when there is a dearth of other flowers, and, in
many cases, its fragrance, Avhich reminds us of the sweet scent of the
hawtliorn, we can hardly be wrong in affirming tliat we do not possess
a more useful plant than that of which we now propose to speak biiefly — the
Cineraria.
Comparing the Cineraria of our day with its ancestors, we are struck by the
great progress which has been acliieved by the florist. A few years ago and the
petals of these flowers were few and far between as the sails of a windmill, but now
we have a symmetrical form and compact growth, in combination with the most
varied and effective colours. Only of lute admitted to our greater exhibitions, it is
now acknowledged by all to form one of their most interesting and important
adjuncts. Fur the ball-room or the banquet, few decorative plants are so appropriate
— the crimson and rose-edged varieties, in particular, bemg most brilliant and
striking by artificial light.
Such being the charms and capabilities of the Cineraria, a few hints as to its
management may prove useful.
If the stock is inferior, as it must be where it has been merely continued by re-
production, or by seedlings, which vtry speedily degenerate without skilful hybrid-
izing and careful stltctions, it will be best to make a fresh start by procuring, before
the winter sets in, a few plants of recent introduction and of distinct colouring
from some reliable source. These should be j^rown on vigorously through the
winter months, and will then make au abundant and, if kept in a cool situation, a
lengthened display in the spring.
The mo.-t suitable soil is a mixture of turfy loam with rotten manure, leaf-
mould, and river, or silver sand. A good drainage will lessen the danger of
mildew ; but, if this appears, apply sulphur immediately, and persevere till you have
mastered it.
Keep the plants as near the glass as possible, and give them air at every favour-
able opportunity.
When they have flowered and cease to be ornamental, Ihey may be removed, if
the weather is not too severe, out of doois, and placed at the foot of a north wall or
hedge. In a short time they will be ready for cutting down, when they should be
lightly surfaced with soil. As soon as tlie suckers break up, they may be taken oflF,
inserted round the edges of pots or teed pans, and placed in a cool pit or frame.
Sprinkle them occasionally until they are thoroughly established ; harden gradually
by more frequent admission of air, and re-pot in accordance with the regular
development of the plant. — Gardener's Annual.
American Mode of Gkowing Blackbeekies.— The canes are planted in rows
3ft. apart, and 3tt. apart in the rows. Over each row is stretched a stout wire at the
lieightof about four feet, with suikes at proper intervals to suppoit it at this height.
As the vines grow they are tied to the wire, and bent dov;n along the wire all in the
same direction — that* is, all towaros the south, all towards the north, or in such
direction as may be most convenient. Tlie berries are borne on the wood of the pre-
vious year's growth. In the spring of each year, the bearing wood of the year
before is cut out and removed, and the new shoots are tied to the wire, the lateral
shoots of the new wood being at the same time cut back within a foot of the main
stalk. TiiUs the whole labour of trimming and training the viues is performed at
one operation. It is better to manure in the autumu, and this all-important matter
should be attended to every year.
123;
NEW PLANTS.
CYl'ELLA CT-liULEA,
YPELLA Ca-ERULEA, Blae-Jloivertd Ci/pella {Bot. Mag. t. 5612).—
Iridse. A superb stove irid, native of the Brazils, long known in oiir
gardens, and on account of its fine flowers and bold sword -like foliage,
deserving a permanent place
in our gardens. The leaves
aretlireeto six feet long, the flowers vary
in size, some of thtm being four inches
in diameter, the blade blue, claw yellow-
ish, with transverse brown bands.
Helianthemum ocvmoides, Basil-
like Bock Rose {Bot. Mag. t. 5621).—
Cistineae. A beautiful hardy rock or sun
rose, native of Spain and Portugal, where
it inhabits dry, rocky hills. "The beau-
tiful genus to which this belongs," says
Dr. J. D. Hooker," was once a favourite
in cultivation, but has of late given way
before the rage for " bedding-oiit plants,"
which now monopolize the once varied
borders of English gardens. No less than
seventy species of Heliardhsmum, besides
varieties, are figured in Sweet's valuable
work on the cultivated plants of the order,
published in 1830, and of these a great
number are nov/ no longer to be found in
England. It is to be hoped that the time
will yet come when the taste for really beau-
tiful and interesting plants will reign again,
and replace the present passion for a blaze of gaudy odours along our garden walks !
Grias caulifloka, Anchorg Bear
{Bot. Mag. t. 5622).— Myrtacea3. This is a
plant of considerable interest in a horticul-
tural, and perhaps also in an economic,
point of view. In the first place, it is one
of the most striking and easily managed ot
all those stately," palm-like, tropical, dico-
tyledonous trees that are so greatly ad-
mired, and are essential for the decoration
of every stove ; and in the next place, as
the Anchovy Pear, it has long been, accord-
ing to some authorities, in esteem as a West
Indian fruit. The latter is a large, brown,
fleshy drupe, like that of the mammel-
apple, which was, according to Sloanc,
pickled and eaten by the Spaniards in lieu
of mangoes, and Avas sent as a great rarity
to Spain. Browne, in his " Natural His-
tory of Jamaica," says nothing of the value
of the fruit, but M'Fi.yden, who represents
tiie English taste, says, *'I cannot learn
that the fruit is ever collected fur use, or
brought to the market." Grias caulijiora
is a tree twenty to fifty feet high. It is
found throughout the Spanish main, grow-
ing in clumps or thickets, and its flowers
are deliciously sweet-scented. The leaves
ar3 crowded at the ends of the branches,
three to four feet long, ten inches broad,
the flowers are on short, stout, branching peduncles, produced on the trunk far
below the leaves. Tliey are two inches broad, pale yellow, veiy fragrant.
GEIAS CAULIVLOltA.
a, the complete plant ; b, portion of the
btem, showing how the flowers are pro-
duced.
124
THE FLOEAL WORLD AKD GARDEN aUIDE.
Plekoma sarmentosa, Twiggy Meroma {JBot. Mag. t. 5629). — Melasto-
raacese. — A beautiful plant, discovered by Humboldt and Bonpland in the cool val-
leys of Peru, and since collected by Dr. Jameson at the same spot, altitude 8000
faet. It is a small, rather slender, subscandent undershrub, with ovate, entire
leaves; flowers two to two and a-half inches in diameter, deep violet, and very
iiandsome, well adapted for greenhouse cultivation.
Sarcamhus erinaceus, Hairy-stemmed Sarcanthtis {Bot. Mag. t. 5630). —
Orchidere, This has been described under the names of Aerides rubrum and
Aerides dasypogon, but the name under
which it is now presented is that by which
it is known at Kew, and is most appro-
priate on account of the peculiarly shaggy
or hedgehog-like appearance of the flower
stems. It is a rare plant and a slow
grower. It flowers in the India-house
during the summer months, the flowers are
Avhite, touched with pale yellow, the lip
rosy.
SlPnOCAMPYI.U.sIIuMBOLDTIANUS,SMm-
boldf's Siphocampylus {Bot. Mag. t.
5631). — Lobeliacere. A showy species of
this tine genus. It is a small bush, three
feet high, branching from the base. The
leaves are ovate, toothed, dai^ green, the
flowers are drooping, two inches long,
bright scarlet. A fine plant for the warm
greenhouse. The Pioyal Gardens are in-
debted to Mr. Bull for this plant.
Oncidium serkatlm, Serrated Onci-
diinn {Bot. Mag. t. 5632).— Orchidea\
A i-emarkable oncid, fantastic in growth
and colouring. The panicle is lax, many
flowered, the sepals and petals ai'e of a
brown, chocolate colour, tipped and margined with yellow, the lip has a bright
yellow crest. It i.s a native of Peru, and must be regarded as a moderately "cool"
orchid.
Syxadexium Gramh, Captain Graufs 3IiUhm7i{Bot. Mag. t. 5633).— Euphor-
biacese. Discovered by Captain Grant during his explorations of the sources of
the Nile. It is a robust green bush of striking character. The leaves are very
succulent, the involucre is a red purple cushion, the stamens have purple
anthers.
Peperomia arifolta var. argtkeia, Arum-leaved Beperomia ; silver-striped
variety {Bot. 3Iag. t. 5634). — This is the true H. arifolia. It has no stem, the
leaves are alternate and peltate, and beautifully marbled. Its exquisite beauty ren-
ders it well adapted for the permanent borders of a tropical house.
LiLiuM uiEMATOCHROUM (HTBRiDrM), Blood-redjiowered Lily {Vlllust. Kori.
t. 503), — Liliacege. This is a remarkable hybrid lily from Japan. It is of stately
habit, with immense flowers of a sombre chocolate colour, deepening occasionally
to black, or brightening to blood red.
Gladiolus, Garden Varietie.s {Vllluat. Sort. t. oOi).—Impe'ratHce Eugenie.
Outer segments barred with clear carmine, inner segments mauve with carmine
stripes, exquisitely beautiful. Eeine Victoria, extra large, outer segments white,
with faint bars of rose, inner segments richly blotched carmine. John Waterer,
small, and apparently partaking of the habit of the Eamosus section, colour vivid
vermilion, with mauve stripes in the throat.
Rhododkndrom margixato punctatum {L'lllust. Sort. t. 505). A charming
hybrid, partaking apparently of the constitution of the Sikkim race. The flowers
are creamy white, with an abundance of dark red spots on the whole surface of the
upper petals, and on the margins of the lower petals. In the conservatory and
cool greenhouse this will be a most valuable decorative plant.
Larix K^mpfeui {L'lllust. Hort. t. 506).— This, the most beautiful of the Larch
tribe, is honoured with a poor portrait, but amends for that is made in the admirable
analytical figures by Mr. Fitch.
HELIAXTHEiII.ii; OCYilOIUES.
125
ie£R-POST FOR pypXHr^SERS
B¥ ?mm, SEEDS, ETC.
A SELECTION OF FIFTY DAHLIAS.
Light. — Miss Henshaw, Lady Popliam, Miss
Pressley, Qaeen of Summer, Her Majesty, Char-
lotte Dcrling, White Perfection, Lady of the
Lake.
Yellow and 0/'a??^e. — Chairman, Hugh
Miller, Charles Turner, Willie Austin, Golden
Admiration, Bullion, Leah.
Crimson and Red. — Madge Wildfire, Lord
Palmerston, Triomphe de Pecq, Scarlet Gem, ]Marquis of
Winchester.
Lilac. — Baron Taunton, Juno, Marr[uis of Bowraout, Criterion, Lilac
Queen.
Purple and Maroon. — Empress of India, Duke of Wellington, Lord Derby,
Midnight, Earl of Pembroke, Erebus, Coronet, George Rawlings, James Back-
house.
Striped and Spotted.— Zehr^i, Countess of Shelbourne, Mrs. H. Holborn,
Charles Perry, Garibaldi, Harlequin, Startler.
Tipped. — ^tafl'^iTcT s, Gem, Duchess of Kent, Lady Paxton, Magician, Norah
Creina, Pigeon, Fanny Sturt, Annie, Pluto.
A selection of about 200 varieties of Dahlias will be found in the *' Garden
Oracle" for 1867.
GARDEA^ GUIDE FOR APRIL.
Kitchen Garden. — The weather has been so bad for some time pasf, that in very
few places has the garden work been carried on as could be wished. It is very
important to get all seeds sown as soon as possible ; but it is no use to push the
work fast if the ground is wet and will not work kindly. The moment the ground
is dry enough to allow of it, put on all available force, and get in seeds, potatoes,
and whatever else should now be growing. It is very importatit to be early in sow-
ing winter greens, as they never do well unless they have a long season ; this is
especially the case with Scotch kale and Brussels spi-outs. Peas and beans that are
up must have attention ; draw the earth to them, and dust with lime or wood ashes.
If every part of the kitchen garden were dusted with lime at this time of year it
would be immensely beneficial, as the vermin are active, and vegetation is in a con-
dition to suffer more from their attacks than in the height of summer. It should
be remembered, too, that lime is a fertilizer, so when it has killed the vermin, it
will remain to benefit the plants. We liave completely cleaned neglected plots of
ground that were foul with vermin by very light dustings of fresh lime about eveiy
three weeks, from the end of March to the end of July, and. the land has been im-
proved at the same time. We have already given lists of what we consider the best
varieties of vegetables to grow this season ; but we wish to direct attention espe-
cially to Stuart and Mein's (of Kelso, X.B.), Dalmeny Sprouts, Albert Sprouts, and
Fearnought Cabbage, as amongst the mcst hardy and most useful of all winter
greens.
Flower Gardct. — Xow is an admirable time to purchase and plant all kinds of
hardy herbaceous plants. Nine-tenths (and more) of all that :ire worth growing
will do well in mellow loam that has been dLcply dug and moderately manured. As
a rule, open sunny spots are best for them ; but many good things will grow in the
shade. All flower-beds not yet touched since last year should be dug, and a little
manure put in, and left 1-ather rough, to be ready for the bedding. Never rake
flower-beds very fine ; a certain roughness of surfiice is essential to the well doing
of whatever is planted in them.
126 THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
Fruit Garden.— There should be but little to do here now except to keep down
•weeds and tliin the crops of trees that are producing; largely.
Greenhouse. Air must be piven freely ; but it is well to be cautious when the
wind is in the east, as too little air at such times is saf r than too much. Quickly
shift and repot all plants requiring it, as our sea«on is short, and we want all the
ffrowth that can be obtained before it closes. Bedding plants ought now to be
clearrd out of the house into pits or frames, or even to sheltered borders, where, in
case of frost or heavy rain, mats or spare lights may be placed over them.
*^* Past issues of tie Floral World contain copious calendars of operations ;
and the Garden Oracle has a complete and concise calendar, adapted for reference.
For these reasons the " Garden Guide" will be on a contracted scale this year.
TO COEEESPO:XDENTS.
Generic Distixctioxj^ between- Calvdivm and Alccasia. — W. Rose. — In
reply to several inquiries which we have had addressed to us upon this subject, we
resolve the question in the following manner, which will serve to dissipate all the
doubts which can be cjnceived upon the generic identity of these elegant plants.
The species of Caladiura and Alocasia do, without doubt, very much resemble each
other in tlieir habit and foliage, and it appaars at first sight extremely difficult to
distint^uish one from the other in the absence of their elegant inflorescence, and
more "especially during the early stages of the growth of the species of the latter
genus. However, even when the Caladia and Alocasise have not yet developed their
snathes (inflorescence), the first may he recognized by their rhizome being always
tubercular and their leaves invariably radical ; and the ■ second by their distinct
stems wbich are more or less raised. So much for their habit ; now for their inflo-
rescence. "With the Caladium, the ^padix flowers along its whole length — the
females beins: situated at the base, the males at the upper part, and the neutrals in
the centre. With the Alocasia, the floral disposition is precisely similar, but the
gpadix is always prolonged in a sterile appendix.
Pampas Grass. — P. B. — We really cannot assign any reason for the non-
flowerin'T of your plant, after being several years planted. It is a fact, however,
that the°plants of pampas vary much in individual qualities, and there are amongst
them some that appear to be incapable of producing flowers, just as in strawberries,
seed saved from one good variety only will produce staminiferous plants, pistili-
ferous plants, hermaphrodites, and plants that never flower at all. At all events,
we should leave the plant alone ; it may, after all, be only delaying the time of its
flowering.
Azalea SrcKERS. — B. G. — The suckers will make nice plants if they are well
rooted before they are removed. To make sure of roots, remove the soil so as to
explore them nearly to the part of the root they spring from, and surround them
with a mixture of chopped n:oss,(very small), peat, and silver sand, equal parts of
each. By August next the suckers will be well rooted, and may then be cut oflf the
stump they ri.-e from, and be potted separately.
Names of Ferxs. — S. J.., BirTcenJieacl. — 1. Cystopteris fragilis ; 2. Pteris
tremula ; 3. Lastrea dilatata dumetorum.
Heating a Small Plant-house. — Ada of Surrey. — Having tried all the make-
shift modes of heating, and found many of them better than nothing, and some few
almost free from objection (a grand quality for any stove inside a house), we have
at last settled upon Hayss Constant Stove as the very best and cheapest. As for
burning many hours, it really seems, when once lighted, as if it would never have
done. The season is past now.and all these inventions lose their importance for a time.
But before next autumn we shall take an opportunity to say another word upon this
subject. For the present we direct inquirers after Hays's Constant Stove to the
agent, Mr. Baker, Harp Lane, Tower Strt,et. London, E.G. It is pleasing to hear
of your success with tuberoses, but are we to understand that you really had twenty-
six to thirty-two blooms from any one bulb ?
AcHiMiNES.— I'. J. H.—ln the sixth volume of the Floeal World, page 67,
this subject was treated at length, and to that we must refer you for a full treatise.
It is easy enough to grow these bulbs. Pot them during February, March, and
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 127
April, in sliallow pans or small pots, in a mixture of equal parts of peat, leaf-
mould, and silver sand, and place them in a moist heat of 60' to 70". It matters not
how this lieat is obtained, provided it is sweet, and the pots are near the glass. A
dung-bed in a common frame will answer as well as a tank in a propagating-house,
if the maniigement is good. When they have grown about two inches, trans-
plant them into their flowering-pots. It is the custom to put three plants in an
eight-inch pot, hut where good growing is the practice, one plant is found to be
quite enough, as it can soon he raide to fill the pot, and produce a profusion of
flowers. The soil for flowering them in should consist of four parts mellow loam,
two parts leaf-mould, and one part each of peat and silver sand, A steady heat,
the plants kept near the glass, regular syringing, and a little shading on sunny
days, and neat stakes as soon as the plants require support, are the several requisites
to success, which, with this beautiful plant, is well worth striving for. Tlie plants
you h ive singly in thumbs must be shifted to 48-size as soon as the thumbs are full
of roots. The achiraines does not require much moisture ; at the same time, neglect
of watering both at the root and overhead with the syringe will be sure to invite red
spider.
Caladiums. — T. J. K. — The treatment of these beautiful plants was admirably
described bv one of the heads of dep irtments at Kew in the fourth volume of the
Floral World, page 179, and at page 115 of the same volume are some remarks
on their uses as bedders — remarks not then intended as prophetic, but which in
respftct of Battersea Park and the Parisian gardens have proved to be so. Your
caladiums Avill by this time require a shift on, and the soil should be fibrous
loam, peat, and leaf-mould, with the addition of sand. The great secret of success
is to keep them in a good heat, with plenty of atmospheric moisture and abundance
of water at the roots, shading from hot sunshine, and shifting on as fast as they fill
their pots w'irh roots.
Double White Sweet Pea. — 3Irs. K., of Romford. — ^We have never met
with u double white sweet pea, and are in great doubt if such a thing exists. Pro-
bably it is the common white everlasting pea you are desirous of obtaining. If so,
you may obtain seed from Messrs. Jas. Carter and Co. Almost any nurseryman
can supplv plants, and in fact it ought to be found in plenty everywhere, tor it
is a fine thing. If any difficulty in obtaining it in your district, send to Messrs. E.
G. Henderson and Son, Wellington Road, St. John's Wood.
GexNETYLLIs and llT.r)\noMX.—Iiocklocl(/e.— These two genera are closely alljed,
yet the same treatment will not do for all the species enumerated under them. The
points in which alone they diff"er — that is as to requirements— :ire as to the tempe-
ratures best adapted for them. As a rule the species of Genetyllis are green-
house shrubs, and as a rule the species of Hedaroma are stove shrubs, but
there are exceptions under both heads. The points in which they agree
are these, that they require a sound, but gritty loamy soil of a highly nou-
rishing character, as much air as their constitution will bear and the season will
allow, abundance of water while growing freely, and to be at all times guarded
against excessive damp either in the atmosphere or the soil. They belong to rather
dry climates, where, in the growing season, rain flills abundantly. Genetj^Uis
tulip f era is a favourite subject for exhibition, to grow it to a fine size and condition
is the work of some years. It requires a light airy greenhouse, and will do well
with such treatment as Epacrises and Cape heaths thrive under, except that it must
have a stronger soiL As for the getting up of specimens, that is a matter of stopping,
training, and tying, and on which books can afford but little aid. G. macrostegio
is a fine species, requiring the same treatment. Of the Hedaromas, K. latfolia,
H. pinifolia, and H. thymoides are the best. Treat them the same as the Gene-
tyllis, but with more heat. Where there is no stove these may do very well, with
coaxintr, in a warm greenhouse.
Fifty Spking Flowers.— (?. S. Woodhtiry. — From the excellent lists by Mr.
Robinson, Mr. Williams, The O'Shane, and others tlnit have lately appeared, selec-
tions of spring flowers may be easily made. But here is a list of fifty prepared
during an inspection of a collection of upwards of 5000 species and varieties of
hardy plants at Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Sons' Nursery, St. John's Wood : —
Adonis vernalis, Alyssum saxitile compactum. Anemone nemorosa, Arabis albida,
Aubrietia deltoidea grandiflora, Aubriecia purpurea, Bellls perennis (various), Caltha
palustris fl'ire pleno, Cheirantlius alpinus, Cheiranthus cheiri (various), Dondia
epipactis, Eranthis hyemalis, Ficaria ranuuculoides, Helleborus niger, Helleborus
12S THE IXOllAL WORLD A^'D GAllDE^' GLUDE.
olympicus, ILq)atica ungnlosa, Hepatica triloba (in a dozen A-arietie?), Iberis sem-
perflorens, Iberis saxatile, Leucojum vernum, Myosotis inontana, Ornitbop;alum
arabicum, Phlox alpinus (many varietie?, all lovely), Primula acaulis (tbis is the
common primrose, of which Mr. Webb, of Calcot Gardens, near Readin<^. has a
remarkable collection, comprising double white, double crimson, double yellow and
double lilac, etc., etc., all far too beautiful to become popular, so let the eclectic
cultivators obtain and keep them). Primula farinosa, Primnla cortusoides, Primula
elatior (manv varieties), Saxifraga oppositifolia, Thalictrum anemonoides, Tussila^o
alpina, Yinca minor, Viola tricolor, Viola odorata (many varieties), Alyssum utri-
culatum, Androsacea carnea. Anemone Pulsatilla, Arabis CJUicasica, Asperula odo-
rata, Cardamine amara, Corydalis bulbosa, Draba aizoides, Erinus alpinus. Helle-
borus atrorubens, Helleborus orientalis formosa, Iris alata, Iris fux'cata, Myosotis
sylvatic'a, Primula decora, Pulmonaria caucasica, Ranunculus graminens. In this
selection only one bulbous plant, namely, Eranthis hyemalis, is admitted, but G. S.
will remember that from the bulbs we may select a good iifty, or a hundred, or even
a thousand varieties of hardy spring flowers. The fifty now offered are all quite
hardy, and adapted to grow in any common garden soil, requiring no special care,
and al'l may be had at from ninepence to eighteenpence per plant. ^Moreover, the
whole lot may be obtained without difficulty, and may be planted at any time, now
as well as anv, or they may be obtained in pots, and will need only to be turned out
into a nicely-dug border during showery weather, and afterwards to be kept clean
from weeds, and from being overhung by trees. Spring flowers, like other flowers,
have not been created in fifties or twelves, and when we determine upon an arbitrary
number, we may have to omit good things or admit bad ones. Now the cream of
the pres'ent selection is the first 33 ; it will be noticed that we begin the alphabet
attain after Viola odorata, having at that point to find 17 more to make up the
number. But those 33 form the foundation of any possible thousand or so distinct
sorts as for example, we have ourselves about twelve varieties of Primula acaulis
(common Primrose), but here we make it count for one only, leaving it to the cultiva-
tor to select among the varieties. So again of Hepaticas, Phlox alpinus, etc. But here
we must quit the subject, for if we yield to its attractions we shall write about
nothing else.
Potatoes. — Xovice. —The following are first-rate sorts, growing moderately, and.
as compared with the generally robust habits of the best kinds, decidedly short in
the haulm. -Chinese Early (Stuart and Mein), Fairbalrn's Pink, Smith's Early,
King of Potatoes, Mona's "^Pride, Martin's Early Globe, Milky White, Paterson's
Victoria. The sorts you inquire about can be obtained of Messrs. Sutton and Sous,
Reading.
PicoTEEs Cakxatioxs, ETC. — J. E. F — It would be bsst to make up your list
for this year from the "Garden Oracle," in which we have grouped the varieties ac-
cording to merit, to furnish cultivators with an instantaneous key to everything good.
It is a°mistake to suppose that these plants cannot be well grown in the suburbs of
towns. Mr. Kirtland, formerly of Banbury, and now of Stoke Xewington, one of
the first pieotee growers in the country, keeps a good collection, and grows them well,
at the Albion Nursery, which is within the four mile radius from Charing Cross,
and exactly throe miles from St. Paul's Cathedral. Mr. Kirtland's essays on the
cultivation of these flowers will be found in the issues for 1866.
Catalogues Received. — Messrs. Sutton and Sons, Reading, '' Catalogue of
Fern Seeds," and " Amateur's Guide for 1867." — Messrs. Carter and Co., High
Holborn, " Gardener's Vade Mecum, 1867." Tbis is a remarkable work, full of
interesting matter, and displaying everywhere great ability in its preparation. It
is not given away, but sold at Is. — Jlr. John Fraser, Lea Bridge Road, "Cata-
logue of Garden and Farm Seeds." — Messrs. Cuthiish and Son, Highgate, '' Cata-
logue of Garden and Farm Seeds."— J/e-wr.?. Barr and Sugden, King Street,
cZvent Garden, " Guide to Kitchen Garden," and " Guide to Flower Garden, 1867."
][Jr. B. S. Williams, Rolloivag, '-Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds." —
Messrs. Stuart and Mein, Kelso, X.B., "Catalogue of Seeds, Roots, and Imple-
ments."— Jir. James Veitch, King's Road, Chelsea, " Catalogue of Garden and
Flower Seeds."— J/e-wr^. F. a. Henderson and Son, St. John's Wood, " Catalogue
of Flower, Vegetable, and Agricultural fiecds."— Messrs. Hooper and Co., Covent
Garden, '■ Spring Catalogue, 1867." Contains many things besides seeds, such as
gladioli, sub-tropical plants, roses, fruit-trees, etc., etc.
THE FLORAL WORLD
GAEDEN GUIDE.
MAY, 1S6 7.
THE HOETUS FEXESTEALIS.
IINDOW Grardens are usually supposed to consist of flower-
pots on window-sills, and though in that simple form
they may be very attractive and highly entertaining to
their possessors, they are but suggestions of better
things, which ingenuity and taste will contrive to super-
sede them. To our country readers, window gardens are matters of
small consequence ; to town readers — and there are thousands such on
the look-out every month for these pages — window gardening is a
matter of very great importance. We have adopted the term
" Hortus fenestralis," the garden of or belonging to the window, to
designate a better kind of window embellishment than either flower-
pots or. wire-work, and because it seemed that by the use of a new
term we might obtain for our remarks on the subject more attention
than by the somewhat abused term by which such things have been
hitherto known. AYe first took notice of the new mode of embel-
lishing windows in our journeys towards the western parts of the
metropolis, where there were noticeable examples of a most tasteful
method of enlivening the interiors of apartments, with but little
sacrifice of light, and with the advantage sometimes of a total ex-
clusion of an unseemly prospect, and perhaps administering at the
same time a rebuke to inquisitiveness, for it is impossible for passers
by to see into apartments, the windows of which are treated in the
mode we are now desirous of recommending to the notice of our
readers. Possibly many of our readers may have noticed examples of
what we call the Hortus fenestralis in Piccadilly and St. James's
Street, where there are suites of windows with small projecting glass
cases which at all seasons of the year are kept richly furnished.
An essential feature of the Hortus fenestralis, is that it is in the
fashion of a closed case fitted to the window, extending to half its
height or more ; it may indeed be of the same height as the window,
and projecting outwards to the full extent of the sill or beyond it.
It is a very simple afi'air, but, like many other simple things, has been
but lately thought of; and as it is obviousl}- adapted to render many
a dreary look-out agreeable, and enlarge the sphere of horticultural
YOL. II. — NO. Y. ^
30
THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
practice for many garden-loving townsfolk, it is surely entitled to
consideration in the light of a new invention. If the reader will now
turn to any one of the windows of the apartments occupied during
the perusal of this, it will be seen that there is a space both within
and without the glass sashes that may be appropriated for the culti-
vation of plants, as the annexed diagram will illustrate. Let A
B represent the inner sill, B the existing glass sashes, and
C the outer sill. The whole width of A and C may be
appropriated to plants by providing a glass case to fit it ;
and as most windows consist of two sashes, the lower
sash may be removed and its place be taken by the case ;
or if that is objectionable, the space C may be appropriated to the case,
which may be allowed to project a little beyond the actual width of C
in order to gain a suf-
ficient depth for a good
effect. Where the win-
dows are large, and
there is no objection to
a considerable projec-
tion, two feet depth
may be considered
liberal for the Hortus
fenestralis ; its width
and height will be de-
termined by the window.
The next business is to
fit it. It is well if the
base be made of one
stout slab of slate, the
joints may be iron, and
the lower sash of the
window may be made
to serve as its inner
side, and the means of
access to it. Any
skilled worker in glass
and metals could fit up
a case if furnished with
such a design as the
employer would ap-
""^""^ * '■ oXremarfhaTev^
part of the workmanship must be good, and there ought to be about
the whole affair an elegance of finish consistent with the elegance
of its purpose. Messrs. Barr and Sugden, the eminent seedsmen of
King Street, Covent Garden, have for a long time past given their
attention to the construction of cases of this sort, and we have in-
spected many that they have built and fitted, and from sketches of
many such, we have selected the subjoined as fair examples.
Let us suppose we have a window to deal with. It is perhaps a
window of comparatively little use to afford either light or air, and
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
131
mayhap has been washed with some preparation to render it nearly
opaque. A cheerful display of greenery would be far preferable to
a window that looks like a great sheet of dirty paper marked with
lines dividing it into squares. "VVe remove the lower sash, or we
take out both the sashes, and construct as deep a case as inner and
outer sills admit of, and perhaps a little more than the width of the
sill on the outside. There must be escape for water from the bottom
of the case, and there ought to be six inches depth enclosed by a
moulding round the base, in which to place the soil in which the
plants are to be grown. Over the bottom should be strewed a layer
of broken bricks, of the size of walnuts, and over that a mixture to
be made as follows. Take of turfy peat, chopped or torn to the
size of walnuts, with all the dust resulting from the operation;
three parts of this peat,
with one part silver sand,
and one part bricks broken
almost to the size of peas,
would form a compost in
which any plant adapted
for the case would grow
to perfection. A much
greater depth of soil than
the six inches allowed for
in the construction of the
case, can be obtained by
constructing a miniature
rockery, and so heaping
up the soil towards the
centre between the stones
of which tlie rockery is
formed. The best stone
for the purpose is soft
sandstone, but common
coke will do if there is
any difficulty; or picked
pieces from the " burrs "
used in garden rockeries
will do very well, as they
soon become mossy, and
plants grow well amongst
them.
As a rule, there are no
plants to equal ferns for
these cases, and as they will afford more space for them to grow than
ordinary fern cases, some species of large size may be introduced. It
will be understood, however, that a suuny south window is not the
place for ferns ; there, indeed, another course must be pursued. As a
rule, it will not be possible to heat these wiudow-gardens, though in
some instances, no doubt, hot water will be made to circulate around
and beneath them, for their protection during cold weather. But when
not so aided, the hardier kinds of ferns should alone be planted in
132 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
them. There can be little occasion to furnish lists of ferns suitable,
as a reference to the " Garden Oracle " for 1866 will supply all
needful information. The ferns adapted for cool houses and cool
cases being just such as are required here.
One form of case combines an aquarium with a fernery. Here
the lower half or a third of the window space should be blocked
with a slate slab, which forma tlie back of the tank, the glass
front being within the room. It has been shown in the " Book of
the Aquarium " that it is not generally advisable to allow the light to
stream through a tank, and therefore an opaque back is preferable to
glass. In furnishing a case of this description, the common English
ivy, Hedera lielix, in the normal condition in which we usually find
it in hedgerows, would be most valuable, as it thrives in closed cases
and can be trained up to form a most elegant green tracery. Those
beautiful climbing ferns, Lygodmm scandens^ and Lygodium Japonica,
are also well adapted for the same purpose, and must have copper
wires fitted to train them to. But here is a golden opportunity for
growing the lovely filmy ferns, such as Tricliomanes radicans and
Hymeno'pliyllum Timhridgense, with other moisture-loving kinds,
such as Asplenium fontanum, and many of the larger varieties of
mosses met with in bogs and the neighbourhood of fountains. In
the furnishing of the tank the rules given in the " Book of the
Aquarium " may be followed strictly. As many of the readers of
the Floeal "Would do not possess that book, a few practical hints
may be useful. First, then, it is advisable to introduce small fishes
only, and those should be varieties of carp, the gold carp being the
most generally useful. To every two gallons capacity of the tank
one small carp may be allow^ed, and no more. The water should
never be changed unless some accident renders it necessary to clean
out the tank, and cleanse it thoroughly. All snails, and in fact all
the small animals commonly used as " scavengers," are best dispensed
with ; they are simply a nuisance. It is also a fallacy to intro-
duce water-plants, but Valisneria spiralis is an exception, as it
generally thrives if planted in a bed of pebbles, and left undisturbed.
In every part of the rock, and the sides of the aquarium, confervae
should be allowed to grow, but the front glass, through which the
view is obtained, must be kept quite clean by the occasional use of a
sponge firmly fixed to a stick.
"Where sunny windows are fitted with cases, and a gay display
of flowers are required, it will be advisable to introduce plants in pots,
and plunge them to the rim in cocoa-nut fibre or moss, and change
them frequently as they go out of flower, for others in full prime.
It must be understood that we love light and air, and cannot
advise the use of a Hortus fenestralis where it would be likely
to deprive an inhabited apartment of due supplies of those requisites
of life. It is, however, always possible to construct them so that
the upper sash of the window is left free for ventilation and illumina-
tion. • S. H.
133
SUMMEE SALADINa.
BY CALVEET CLAEKE (laTE OF WIMBLEDON).
MONGST the cares of a Tvell-ordered garden there are but
few subjects that demand more attention and fore-
thought than to keep up successional supplies of salading
during summer. I would impress upon those whose
business it may be to supply these subjects, the import-
ance of constant thought and attention, as very frequently a remissness
in these apparently small matters leads to observations and conjectures
which it is not always pleasant to hear ; as, if salads are in favour with
those who have a right to expect them under favourable circum-
stances, we may be certain that if there is any lack of them the
gardener's shortcomings will be measured in the exact proportion to
their absence from the table. It must not be inferred from this that
it is always possible, under all circumstances, to secure a supply,
indeed no kitchen-garden crops are so precarious as these in some
light, dry, gravelly soils, where, to get a crisp, fine-hearted lettuce in
the month of August is simply impossible if the weather for a few
weeks previous has been hot and dry ; but, on the other hand, if we
are dealing with a loamy or clayey soil, the management must be
somewhere at fault if they are conspicuous by their absence from the
table. But so much depends upon management, that I have thought
it desirable just now to offer a few hints that may be useful at least
to amateur readers. Placing first on this short list the Lettuce, as the
most useful amongst them, I may remark that after the second week
in May all lettuce seeds should be sown where they are to stand.
They should be sown thinly in shallow drills eighteen inches apart,
and when well up thin them out to fifteen inches from plant to plant.
The ground should be rich, na}', heavily manured, and turned up
from the bottom at least eighteen inches deep. This is the best
preventi\e against " bolting," or running to seed before their time,
and the best of all methods to secure a crisp, tender-hearted lettuce.
It beats all the'watering that can be done ; and speaking about water-
ing, I would advise the reader never to give them a drop artificially
after they are well up, unless he can continue to give them copious
supplies every other day. In fact, I don't believe in watering them
at all, for it only creates a sort of reaction that has a tendency to
make them start for seeding. Give them a thick layer of good fat
dung twelve inches below the surface, and it will produce an effect
that will startle the senses of those who never tried it. As the sum-
mer advances choose the coolest position in the garden in which to
grow them — a north bank or under a shady wall are about the best
spots that can be had. Sow frequently ; that is to say, just a pinch
of seed every fortnight until the end of August, choosing more open
positions for the last two sowings. As to the sorts, there are no
better for summer use than the London Market and the Paris
White Cos. The last-named variety I grew in our loamy soil last
year to a high state of perfection.
134 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
"We liave next the Turnip Radishes. These are never better
than when grown in the heat of summer, but they must be grown in
the shade and abundantly watered. Sow the first lot in the shade
about the first of June, and continue to do so until the end of August,
but rather than to batter the soil down by repeated waterings before
the seed is up, I prefer to shade the bed either with old mats or a
thatched hurdle, removing the shading as soon as the seeds are up.
If birds are troublesome, put a net over the bed.
Beetroot ought, for a few early roots, to be sown under glass,
be nursed on in pots, and turned out in the ground in May. If
these are liberally dealt with by repeated applications of manure-
water, and are otherwise standing in rich soil, they will produce nice
roots by July. The main crop of beets should be sown late in April
or early in May, the ground should be deeply dug but not manured
for them.
The first sowing of Endive may now be made. Sow it in the
open quarters where it is to stand ; thin out quickly, as no plant
sufi'ers more from a crowded state in the seed bed than this. Large
heads early in the season should not be aimed at; tie them up when
quite dry, and make additional sowings every three weeks.
If Celery is wanted, treat it the same as recommended for beet-
root, and keep it well fed from the sewage pump, always using the
precaution of adding a little more dry earth the next morning after
watering. This prevents evaporation, and keeps the roots much
longer moist. The main crop of celery I have nothing to say about,
as the cultivation has been frequently treated of.
Mustard and Cress may be sown in the shade every week, and
during the season make about three sowings of the Corn Salad.
The green leaves of this are very useful i'or mixed salads.
The above are all essential subjects to a good salad. There are a
few other smaller knickknacks sometimes grown for special taste, but I
need not name them here, as they are not sufficiently well known to
brin» them into general use, and they can be very well spared.
THE AUCUBA JAPONICA.
HE old " spotted laurel " of the gardens, always a noble
evergreen, but sometimes despised, because "common,"
has of late years acquired immense importance as a
decorative plant, and, irrespective of its ornamental
value, has become peculiarly interesting to horticul-
turists, in consequence of the possibility of rendering it fertile as a
berry-bearing shrub, in which condition it naturally leaves the
holly far behind, by the splendour and abundance of its large scarlet
berries. A short monograph on our old friend may now be of some
value to our readers, though we must premise that every stage of
progress in the exaltation of the aucuba to its present dignified
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 135
position as one of the best of exhibition plants has been duly noted
in the Floral "World, and reference to past issues will show that
not a single fact respecting it has escaped our chronicling pen — a
good test, we will venture to say, of the comprehensiveness of this
humble and by no means voluminous work. We have not time to
hunt up references to the subject, but we find, at page 79 of the
seventh volume, a record of the first exhibition, by Mr. Standish, of
the first English-grown specimen bearing ripe berries ; and in the
issue for April, 1865, will be found a resume of the facts which con-
tribute so directly to render the aucuba one of the most interesting
plants in cultivation. If some few of these particulars are now
repeated, it is not for the sake of repetition, but because it is
unavoidable ; and we are anxious that all the readers of the Floral
"World should understand the aucuba, and derive the fullest advan-
tage from its capabilities.
The Aucuba Japonica belongs to the natural order Cornacece, or
Cornels, and is therefore allied to the common dogwood of our
English wastes ; but the relationship is rather remote, for it appears
that the pollen of the dogwood will not fertilize the aucuba. The
plant is in no way related to any of the laurels, though it is some-
times called " spotted laurel," on account of its large, leathery,
laurel-like leaves ; but it is more nearly related to the ash and the
alaternus than to any laurel. The introduction of this shrub to
England took place in 1783, and for many years thereafter it was
grown in the stove ; the rule of subjecting all exotic plants to a high
temperature being then in full force. In the course of time it
was found capable of bearing a greenhouse temperature, and to be
healthier there than in the stove. In the next stage of observation
it was found hardy enough to survive the winter out-of-doors, and at
last it became a common garden shrub, thriving far better when
exposed to all weathers than when coddled under glass, and treated
as a tender subject. To trace the course of its popularity is quite
unnecessary, for our readers are all aware that for the last thirty
years it has been planted more extensively than any other hardy
shrub, and especially in the neighbourhood of towns, one of its par-
ticularly good qualities being that it bears smoke well.
On some few occasions the common aucubas have borne what
appeared to be red berries, but which proved to be only the outer
envelopes of apocryphal berries, or, we may say, abortive berries,
destitute of pulp and of a vital germ. But these abortive berries
reminded cultivators thatin its native country this fine tree bears
berries abundantly, and that it would be desirable to render it fruit-
ful here ; for we can enjoy the beauty of red berries in the winter
as fully as the Japanese. The great interest of the subject turns
upon this point. Some plants bear flowers that contain both male
and female organs — that is to say, both pistils and stamens ; as for
example, the apple, pear, plum, etc. Others bear flowers of two kinds;
in one kind we find the male organs, and in the other the female ;
but both kinds of flowers are on the same plants. Examples of this
occur in the cucumber and the maize. In the cucumber the male
flower contains one prominent stamen, and the female flower one
136 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
pistil, and at the base of the flower a rudimentary fruit. In the
maize or Indian corn, the male flowers constitute the elegant feathery
spun-glass-like plume with which the plant is crowned ; and the
female flowers are found in the axils of the leaves, lower down, where
ultimately the " cobs" of corn are formed. LinuKUS classes plants
of this last kind as Moncecia, or "one-housed." A third kind of
plant has the male flowers on one plant, and the female flowers on
another. Examples of this occur in the Pampas grass, the male of
which is the most robust in habit, and produces chafly plumes of
flowers, in which stamens are found ; the female being more light
and graceful, and consistino^ of pistils only, and rudimentary ovules,
which, if the pistils are fertilized by pollen from the male, ultimately
become grains of true corn, or '• Pampas grass-seed." Plants of
this kind Linnaeus classes under the term Dicecia, or "two-housed."
It is to this last class in the Linnaean arrangement that the aucuba
belongs ; the male flowers are ordinarily produced on separate plants
from the females, as is the case with the English yew and the com-
mon fig.
The first importation of the aucuba, in 17S3, consisted of female
plants only. Por many years after this form of the plant had been
acquired, Japan was closed against European commerce, and to
obtain the male plant was impossible. Meantime, the gardeners of
Europe propagated from the original stock ; and the gardens of the
world, we might almost say — at all events, the gardens of Europe
and America — have been stocked almost to repletion with females,
while the male remained as yet unknown. But a few years since,
Japan was again opened to the ships, the merchants, and the tra-
vellers of Europe ; and amongst the many enterprising men who
seized the opportunity ibr botanical exploration was the veteran
Kobert Fortune, who had already enriched our gardens with many
precious plants from China and Shanghae. To Portune we are
indebted for the introduction of the male aucuba, which was first
grown by Mr. Standish, of Ascot, and by him in due time distri-
buted at a price which made a good return for the costs incurred in
obtaining it, but none too much, considering its intrinsic value, and
the important consequences to which its difi'usion will be certain to
lead.
Simultaneously, or nearly so, with Mr. Portune's acquisition of
the male form of Aucuba Japonica, an Indian species, A. Himalaicay
was introduced. This appears to be quite hardy, but is at present
scarce, and has not, so far as we are aware, been fully tested as to
its ability to endure the rigours of this climate. But these were not
all the acquisitions of the kind of which we became apprised about
the year 1860, An extensive series of varieties of A. Japonica were
ushered into notice, and amongst them the f/ree«-leaved, or normal
form of our old established " spotted laurel," that is to say, the same
plant in the uniform deep green hue of its original condition ; or, as
we may say, the common aucuba before it became variegated. This
was at first called Aucuba Japonica fcBinina vera, that is, the true
female aucuba ; but the name by which it is now known is A. J.f.
viridisj the "green-leaved" female aucuba. The several varieties
THE FLOKAL WORLD AIO) GARDEN GUIDE.
137
will be enumerated and described presently. Let us now glance at
the structural peculiarities of the flowers.
The male flower, Fig. 1^ consists of four red sepals or petals (it
cannot matter what they are called), and four stamens on filaments
of equal length. The female flower, Pig. 2,
has four petaline divisions of the same kind
as the male, but in place of four stamens it
has one pistil, the stigma of which is cylin-
drical, and the pollen shed by the staraens
of the male flower is applied, at the proper
time and in the proper manner, to the
stigmas of the female flowers. The result
is, on the female plants, an abundant
production of ovate berries nearly as large
as rose-hips and of a deep red colour, as re-
presented in Fig. 4. These berries consist
of single seeds enveloped in a scarlet rind. ^ig. i.
"When cut in half the embryo plant is
seen near the base. Mr. Staudish was the first to produce a crop
of berries, and amongst a number of seedlings raised by him, one
has produced flowers in which there
are both male and female organs;
that is to say, this particular plant
is apparently hermaphrodite. It has
not, however, so far as we are aware,
been fertilized by its own pollen, and
therefore we cannot as yet describe
it as a true hermaphrodite. jS'ever-
theless, we may hope for herma-
phrodites which will be self-fertili-
zing, as are the flowers of the wild
Fig. 2. rose, and ten thousand other subjects
that produce both male and female
organs in the same flower, for in the male aucuba the undeveloped
germs of the stigma are present, and some accident may result in the
development of both organs in the same flower. A flower from Mr.
Standish's presumed hermaphrodite is represented in Fig. 3.
To cultivate the aucuba is easy enough. It will grow in almost
any soil and situation. But to grow it as a
conservatory plant it must have the care that
is usually bestowed on nearly hardy subjects.
A free, rather light, but good soil is requisite,
consisting in great part of loam with thoroughly
decayed manure and leaf-mould added. Many
of the new varieties are far superior in beauty
of leafage to the common form of the plant
with which we are familiar in gardens, and ^^'
therefore are well worth growing in pots until they attain so large
a size as not to be conveniently dealt with in that way, and may
be planted out to make garden trees. As the new varieties are
expensive, a word on their propagation may be of service. The safest
138
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
method is to take cuttings of the young shoots in the month of July
and put in shallow pans and cover them with bell-glasses. Having
made an early speculation in all the new varieties, paying at the rate
of five to seven shillings per leaf for some of them (as for example,
£1 for a plant with only three or four leaves), we felt the importance
of quickly increasing
them, and adopted a
method at once simple,
and which proved emi-
nently successful. Shal-
low pans were filled with
a mixture consisting of
about equal proportions
of loam, peat, sharp sand,
and potsherds broken to
the size of peas. Cut-
tings, an inch and a half
to two inches long, taken
from the young wood
before it was fully hard-
ened, and dibbled close to-
gether in this mixture and
covered with bell-glasses,
rooted quickly, and the
bell - glasses were re-
moved, and the young
plants were wintered with
ordinary greenhouse
treatment. The peculiar
mixture they were in pre-
vented damping off' in
winter (the mixture was
adopted for that purpose,
for the cuttings were
too costly to be put to
any risk), and in April
they were potted sepa-
rately and kept shut
rather close in frames for
a fortnight afterwards,
and were then put out of
doors, the pots plunged
to their rims in cocoa-nut
fibre, and after that they
pretty well took care of
themselves and grewfreely.
I^early all the plants of the new varieties sent out by the trade
have been grafted. This is a very simple method of multiplying
them, and the modus operandi is as follows : — Stocks are obtained by
pegging down the common aucubas in the month of May. Every
layer is tongued and soon makes roots. In September the rooted
Fig, 4.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 139
shoots are separated and potted in small pots and are set aside in
cold frames for a month or two. They are then transferred to a
warm house, and the varieties to be grafted are put in the same
house with them. They begin to grow almost immediately, and as
soon as there are signs of movement their heads are cut off, and the
scarcely bursting shoots of the varieties are grafted on them by side
or cleft grafting ; usually the first, for there is not enough wood for
cleft grafting. As soon as the grafts are tied on, they are placed in
a steady and quite moist but gentle heat, and stock and graft grow
together almost immediately and with considerable speed. We find
it very difficult to keep the plants clean so long as they are subjected
to artificial heat ; indeed, we have had our stock thoroughly foul
with green-fly on several occasions when pushing the growth. "We
can only advise fumigation the moment the fly aj^pears, and the
smart use of the syringe over the leaves at all times that the state of
the plants and weather will allow. When they are in flower the
syringe must not be used. A golden rule to get rid of all vermin in
spring, is to put them out of doors as soon as it is safe to do so ;
this makes an end of vermin completely. Ours, that had been win-
tered under glass, were put out on the 12th of April, and will remain
out till October next.
[Fertilization of the female flowers is such a simple process tliat
we hope all our readers will include it in the round of their garden
recreations. It is best if male and female plants are in flower at
the same time and in the same house. In this case the pollen can
be removed from the stamens of the male flowers daily (mid-day is
the best time), with a dry and soft camel' s-hair pencil, and at once
applied to the female flowers. To pass the brush lightly over the
stamens first, and then lightly over the female flowers, is all suffi-
cient. If the male flowers first, which it is apt to do, having been
so hard forced in the nurseries for increase of stock, the pollen
should be brushed ofl" daily into a tin box (or into a box of any kind
lined with tin-foil), and when the flowers of the female are ex-
panded, it must be transferred to them from the box by means of a
camel's-hair pencil. Some precautions must be taken from the first
to prevent a waste of pollen, for whatever falls on the mould inside
the pot may be considered lost for ever. Mr. Crute, who has
exhibited the finest specimen berried aucuba, covers the soil of the
pot containing the male plant with tin-foil just before the flowers
open, and when removing the pollen from the flowers, takes care
also to sweep up any that may have fallen on the tin-foil. I lay
some small squares of glass over the soil, which answers pretty well,
but Mr. Crute's method is the most neat and complete, and is, there-
fore, recommended. The pollen may be kept for a great length of
time if cool and dry.
The berries of the aucuba swell slowly, and do not ripen till
nearly mid-winter, unless the plants are constantly kept under glass.
"When ripened, the appearance of the plant, if the berries are plentiful,
is truly magnificent, but to display the berries well it is advisable to
remove a few of the uppermost leaves. In the month of March is
the best time to sow the berries. They require no preparation, but
140 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
may be sown as they are, in any liglit, good soil, one inch deep, and
will, in the course of about two months, germinate. As the seeds
are worth at the present time a shilling each, it is advisable to sow
them in pots, and place the pots in a frame or pit, that they may be
exposed to fewer risks than if sown in the open ground. We will
now enumerate the varieties of A. Japonica.
MALE ATJCUBAS.
Auciiba Japonica masculaviridis. — This is the green-leaved form
of the male ; a neat and handsome shrub, with dark-green glossy
leaves.
A. J. m. angustata. — An elegant narrow-leaved variety ; quite
green.
A. J. m. hicolor. — Bold and handsome, the centre of the leaf
striped with yellow ; very showy.
A. J. m. i-aria. — Leaves marked with fine yellow blotch.
A. J. m. maculata. — E-ichly blotched with yellow and cream
colour.
FEMALE ATJCrSAS.
Aucubas Japonica f(E7nina viridis. — The green-leaved form ; quite
a handsome shrub, irrespective altogether of its berry-bearing
properties.
A. J.f. elegans. — Fine broad leaves, deeply serrated, with broad
centre of yellow and green margio.
A. J.f. latifolia. — Very broad dark-green leaf ; a strikingly hand-
some shrub.
A. J.f. limbata. — The margins of the leaves are yellow, and the
disk exhibits two shades of green.
A.J.f.longifolia. — A distinct and elegant variety, the leaves
green, longer, and narrower than usual.
A. J. f. longifolia variegata. — A moderately-well coloured form
of the last-named ; the variegation consists in lines and clouds of
sulphur and amber.
A. J. f macropliylla. — One of the most remarkable of all ; the
leaves extra broad, and quite alight green.
A. J. f . elegantissima. — Leaves extra large, with one large spot
of clear yellow, and the rest of the leaf green dappled with yellow ;
one of the handsomest of all.
A. J.f variegata aurea. — Superb stripe of gold yellow up the
centre of the leaf ; an excellent variety.
It is but right to add, that though Mr. Fortune's female
plant was distributed by Mr. Standis^h, Mr. Bull, of King's
Eoad, Chelsea, has the honour of introducing by far the greater
portion of the above, both male and female, the varieties having
been obtained from Japan by Dr. Yon. Siebold. The last in
the list is a true English sport, which occurred in the nursery of
Messrs. Cutbush and Son, of Highgate, who have propagated it, and
offer plants to all who like to pay for them. Amongst the many
males, it appears that the one called maculata is the most prolific of
pollen. S. H.
141
CULTIVATION or THE DAHLIA.
BY ME. J. COrECHA, YICTOIilA 2TUESERT, YICTORIA PARK.
is now thirty- seven years ago since I first began to
cultivate the Dahlia. The first I ever grew was a single
one, and I have continued cultivating them ever since,
and so am pretty intimately acquainted with the various
stages of progress up to the present time. I shall oifer
a very few remarks upon the following heads : — Propagating, soil,
planting, training, growing, growing hard eyes, defying earwigs or
any other vermin, cutting down, putting away, and the properties of
the flower.
Peopagatikg. — In propagating the dahlia, we always put the
tubers on in the second or third week in December. This may he
considered by some very early, but it is none too early for those who,
like myself, have to raise a large stock. We always cut them under
the joint, after they have sprouted, and then they will keep on
breaking out, and so you cut them again as fast as they sprout.
With such things as fuchsias and geraniums, you may cut above the
joint, or at the internode ; but with dahlias it is different, you must
with these cut under the joint. After you have taken oiff all the
cuttings you require, break off the remaining shoots, and then plant
the tuber, when it will produce one good plant. ■ Some persons
prefer pot roots to cuttings ; and this may be said in their favour,
that when put into the ground they grow much faster than cuttings.
I don't pretend to tell you the reason of this, but can assure you
that such is the case ; for although the pot plants will flag when
first put in the ground, yet after a while they recover, and then grow
faster and bloom earlier than plants raised from cuttings ; so also the
old bulbs, if planted after they are cut, will produce good plants,
and bloom earlier than the cuttings.
Soil. — One thing is certain with respect to the soil for dahlias,
and that is, that they are very fond of a great deal of manure. The
compost which I used many years ago was a spadeful of mould, with
half a bushel of dung ; mix them well together, and then tread it
down to make it rather hard, for unless you do this the dung will
make it too spongy. This compost I used with great success, and
showed as fine blooms as most persons, which is proved by the
number of prizes received at different times ; it is a similar compost
to this that I use at the present day.
Planting. — The first thing to do in the planting of dahlias is to
drive a stake in, so that they may be tied up at once, which will
remove all fear of their being broken by the wind, or other causes. If
this is attended to, there is nothing else of importance to think
about in planting them.
Training. — The old-fashioned method was to train dahlias like
poplar trees — that is, to take oft' all the shoots to the height of
three or four feet, and thus expose the poor thing's legs to view, and
compel them to run up to a great height. I remember growing one
142 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
once for exhibition, and T had to get a table and a man six feet high
to pnt a shade over it; and whenever the wind blew hard I would
go and hold it, to prevent it knocking against the shade and getting
injured. Now they are grown two or three feet high, so that a per-
son can stand at any point of his garden and view his whole collec-
tion comfortably. My opinion is that any tall-growing plant may be
grown dwarf, and flowered with good effect. The first I ever saw
was by Mr. Eussell, who grew for Mr. Proctor. He used to grow
from four arms ; he gave them a large quantity of dung, and the
plants grew strong, and produced fine blooms. To grow dwarf, put
your young plants into the ground, and let them grow till you can
bend them over to the ground again, w^hen peg them down, which
will allow the bottom shoots to grow up.
Watering. — At one time the watering of the dahlia was con-
sidered of very great importance, and a few years ago I used to
devote four hours every other day to watering my plants. But I
find now that they will do just as well without, and so of course
never give them any ; and I will tell you how I found it out. The
man who used to assist me in the operation left me suddenly, when
the plants never got any water, and they did just as well as in pre-
vious years. Now I certainly think that they should be made to
fetch their own water. Of course when we have them under cover
we must attend to them and water them, and they often grow so
vigorously that I have known them to lift the glass. But out of
doors all you have got to do is to plant them deep enough and they
will get their own. At one time it was the practice to w^ater them
by pouring the water all down at the stem ; but this is where they
want it least of all. AYatering at the stem makes them weak, and
makes them grow tall when they are much better dwarf. All you have
to do is, when planting, if the ground is dry, give them a thorough
good soaking, and then leave them to take care of themselves.
Geowikg Haed Eyes. — Here is a plan for growing hard-eyed
flowers. Take good strong plants, and let them be got in early.
Then let them grow wild so as to weaken the plant a bit, and then
cut away ; but if you cut very much you will only get a very few
blooms. In the beginning of October the plants will have made so
many flowers that the hard eyes will then come. With some persons,
however, it makes no diff'erence whether the flowers are hard-eyed
or soft-eyed. Whenever I go to a show I like to get there early, so
as to have plenty of time to make all arrangements that are necessary,
and not go just as it is time for the censors to commence work, and
then to be hurried away before I have had time to place my flowers
properly. And by going early I have often seen other things as well
which are well worth finding out. One day at the Crystal Palace I
saw a great gun among the growers up in a corner surrounded by
his blooms. He had a stick in his hand, and with it he was busily
picking out something from the centre of a flower, and putting it
into his mouth. AVell, he continued picking away till he had picked
out all the centre of the flower, and then with another instrument
he very carefully turned the other florets over towards the centre, so
as to hide the place ; and this is the way the public are deceived.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 143
But they do not quite pick out all the middle of the flower, but leave
a little bit just in the centre, so that if the judges happen to turn the
florets back they may see that it has a proper centre, whereas if they
turned them further back they would see a great bare place. Now
this kind of thing I maintain is both unfair and unjust. But many
of the seedlings palmed off upon the public are grown in this way.
If seedlings were grown and shown fairly, not half those which are
made so much fuss about would be regarded at all with favour by
the public.
Crocks. — "When striking cuttings, I always do entirely without
crocks, which makes them very much handier in turning out. I
do not say that my system is so much superior to the crock
method, but it is certainly cleaner and more tidy. I take an
ordinary thumb-pot and place it upside-down in the pot in which the
cuttings are to be placed, then fill up with compost and put in the
cuttings. Place the pots in a little heat, and you find them grow
faster than when crocks are used. The reason I suppose to be this,
that the hole of the large pot being quite free, the thumb-pot inside
gets full of warm air, and so brings them on faster.
Yeiimin. — Now then for the plan for defying earwigs, cater-
pillars, and all other vermin, from injuring your flowers. As soon
as the buds begin to expand, get a muslin bag about six inches each
way ; draw it round the stalk just underneath the bud, not too tight,
but just so that it will move up and down easily, and then place the
shade over it. As the bloom opens, the bag will give to it, so that
when the flower is fully blown you would be surprised how beauti-
fully clean it is, and entirely free from anything which can blemish
it. After the bag is put over the bud, you may leave it in perfect
security that no caterpillar will come and gnaw out the heart of your
pet, and thus in one night upset all the labour of the season. I use
these bags very extensively, often having as many as 200 of them
on fifty plants, which gives them a very strange appearance. In
training or growing for bloom, take one off one side and one off the
other alternately. It is not by any means advisable to grow very
large flowers, as the florets come very much better on the smaller
ones. Some persons leave only one bloom on the end of the stem,
which comes enormously large, but does not correspond with the
others, nor yet come so good in form.
Shadikg. — Placing a shade close over the flower is also very
bad, as it frequently makes them quite a different colour from what
they ought to be, by depriving them of light. Place your shade as
far from the top of your flower as possible, so that you protect them
from sunshine and rain ; and you will find that the hardier you make
your flowers the better they will be.
Taking up.— After they have done blooming, cut them down ;
then take up the tubers, and put them in a nice warm dry place. I
generally put mine by the side of a flue, where they get properly
dried. About three weeks' rest is sufiicient, when they may be got
to work again. As soon as they are dry, plant them again, and
don't give them much rest, as they do better without it.
Peopeeties. — In laying the flower, the florets should be arranged
144 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE.
like the slating of a house. The slates oq a roof are laid so that
each one covers the edges of the two immediately beneath it, and
that is exactly how the florets of a dahlia should be. You should
also not be able to see the under side of them, even if the bloom is
held sideways. In a reflexed flower, the florets are turned back, so
that the centre is thrown up. Many are cupped so much that it
leaves quite a hole in the centre ; but what we want is a floret
almost straight, and just sufficiently cupped to form a good flower ;
and then, even if held sideways, you cannot see the under side of
the florets. A flower should be two-thirds of a ball, and every floret
should cover the edges of the two underneath. The size of the
flower should be four inches, and never more than six. I think four
inches quite large enough, as many which run to six inches in dia-
meter are badly formed and coarse in texture.
CULTIVATION OF THE PANSY.
ET ATT EXHIBITII^'G A^HATEUR.
AYINGr been a grower many years, and a successful
exhibitor, I think that without presumption I may give
some of the results of my experience for the benefit of
those who may require it. Before going further, I would
have the novice in the culture of the pansy to understand
that a person may be a very successful grower, and yet be very
unsuccessful as a competitor. The plants may be ever so well grown,
but it requires one who thoroughly understands the properties of the
flower to make up a stand for competition ; there is also a great
knack in laying down a bloom ; it must be kept in mind that they
stand very "little handling, and that only of the most gentle descrip-
tion. The beginner should therefore direct his attention to both the
culture and the markings or properties of the flower.
To grow pansies in the open border, a piece of ground should be
selected well sheltered from high winds, but at the same time quite
open to the sun and air. If a crop of potatoes has just been taken
off, so much the better ; if the ground has been manured for the
previous crop, it will require nothing but digging ; if not, a little
rotted turf or very old stable manure should be added. The pansies
should be planted in rows, about one foot apart, and from eight to
ten inches apart in the rows. The end of September or beginning of
October is the proper time for planting to bloom in May or June ;
for the autumn exhibitions, they will require to be planted in April
or May, or even later, according to the climate or exposure. Just
before beginning to bloom, a top-dressing of leaf-mould or very old
manure will be beneficial ; liquid manure, especially if the least too
strong, is apt to cause the colours to run, and the blooms to come
flabby and rough-edged.
Cuttings should be struck whenever they can be got. Side-
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 145
sboots strike freely all the summer months, in a border on the north
side of a wall or hedge, using plenty of sharp sand. When not
required for exhibition, the plants should be cut over, and in a fe^
weeks there will be an abundance of offsets, some of which will be
nicely rooted plants ; those that are not rooted will strike much
faster than cuttings taken from the branches, and form much more
healthy plants.
The flower-buds ought to be taken off as fast as they appear, until
within about three weeks before the day of exhibition. For a few
days before the blooms are required they should be shaded with thin
cotton or other light fabric, being careful not to place the shading
too near the plants, or the colours will be bleached ; indeed, they
should be shaded as little as possible, and then only from bright sun-
shine or rain. Keep a sharp look-out for green-fly. It is perhaps
safer, however, to use precautionary measures : make a strong
infusion of tobacco, and with a piece of rag or sponge run a little of
it into the heart of each shoot. Repeat frequently, or until the
vermin disappear.
For exhibition purposes it is advisable to grow a number of plants
in pots ; they can be much more easily protected from weather and
vermin, and generally speaking the blooms are finer in quality.
There are some varieties it is of no use attempting to grow in pots,
as their colours almost invariably run. The plants should be put
into thumb-pots about the beginning of October, and plunged
in sand in a cold frame ; the sashes should not be used unless
during severe weather. Take the first opportunity after the middle
of January of shifting to eight or nine-inch pots. Soil, decayed turf
and leaf-mould in equal parts, with a little sand ; it ought to be
mixed in the beginning of winter, and thrown into a sharp ridge, in
order that it may get all the frost going. Plunge the pots about
half their depth in a frame amongst sand or sifted coal-ashes. Never
put on the sashes, except during hard frost or drenching rains, until
the last week before the exhibition, and not even then unless the
weather is wet and variable ; the sashes not to be nearer to the
plants than two feet, and allowing a free circulation of air all round
the sides.
Pansies in beds are easily protected from snails by putting pieces
of board on edge all round the beds, and occasionally give the boards
a touch along the outside with coal-tar ; the frames can be protected
in the same way. There is no way of preventing the ravages of the
wire-worm, or julus, but by hand-picking ; it causes considerable
trouble, but it is the only way to get rid of them.
VOL. ir. — NO. T. 10
146
SOME USES OF THE lYT.
BY KAEL PROSPEE.
HAVE not seen, during my residence in England, that
one of the most beauteous of evergreen shrubs is turned
to such account as might be in the decoration of the
garden. I was first reminded of the extreme value of
the ivy as a garden plant, by inspecting one of your
London gardens, the one called Islington Green, near to where the
Agricultural Hall is situate, and in which the compartments are all
maj'ked out with broad and rich edgings of the Heclera canariensis.
I said within myself, whoso planted this garden knew how to manage
in a place so much exposed to smoke and dust ; but when I learned
that Mr. Hibberd had superintended the planting, my surprise
ceased, and I said this is what we should expect, that one who writes
well should work well, though it is not a rule for such to be. The
beauty of the ivy there is peculiar to the spot. There are two most
ugly-shaped plots of land, they are irregular wedge-shaped and all
on one side, and to give them any pleasing character, great ingenuity
was required. "Well, their ugliness is softened down by the marking
out of great compartments in curves, and all are edged with ivy, so that
whichever way we look we see fine curves of dark green vegetation
set ofi" upon the light green of the grass — this directs our cogitations
to the uses of the ivies in gardens. Oh dear, what expense and
trouble some people incur to make edgings to their flower-beds, but
if they would plant the lovely silver-margined ivy about two feet
apart all round their beds, they would have bright and beauteous
edgings that would be scarcely less attractive in winter than in
summer, and with every year would be becoming better. ]S"ow, how
excellent would be this plan of planting in peaty, chalky, or sandy
soils, where the variegation of such superb kinds as Cullisii or the
i\e,'^ Japanese variegated ivy would come out true and strong. The
beauteous variety of Hedera canariensis, called aiirea mactdata, which
is richly variegated, a kind of greyish yellow, would make a most grand
edging to a broad ribbon border, and for any terrace or geometric
work where twelve inches breadth could be allowed it ; though if
only six inches wide it would be characteristic and efiective. Then
there are materials among the ivies for green edgings of many kinds.
In places w^here box will not grow, fine edgings of ivies may be made
by planting the common Hedera lielix or Hedera cana7^ie?isis one yard
apart, and then trimming and clipping the growth as required, A fine
edging may be made with the Taurican ivy, called Hedera helix
'Taurica, which is of small growth, with neat dark green glossy leaves.
To train ivies to edging is one of the easiest things in the world, and
as it will grow in any soil, they are plants adapted for all kinds of
garden. To name the best kinds seems to be needless, for all are good,
but at some few nurseries there is a great variety to be met with, and
my friend Mr. Hibberd, who has an extensive collection, will always
tell us of the best kinds for any particular purpose. I have seen a
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDElIf GUIDE. 147
great bed of rhododendrons surrounded with roses, and the whole
enclosed in a broad ring of ivy, looking quite grand in a garden.
Another good use for the ivy is to clothe banks that are shaded.
Here we may have great sheets of such a kind as the variegated
Hedera canariensis, and the poorer the soil for it the better the
colour of the variegation. So again, many barren places under trees
in gardens could be made beautiful by clothing them with ivy ; the
merest scraps inserted any time during summer would take root and
in due time spread into rich masses of dark green vegetation.
But the most interesting of all the uses of the ivies is to furnish
the garden in winter. For this purpose they are grown in pots, and
are placed where required when the proper time comes. One of our
best friends has brought this system of using them to perfection,
and it is impossible to see the plants and not feel that a quite new
epoch in horticulture is inaugurated therein.
All the small-leaved ivies are well adapted for growing in close
glass cases. They bear the confinement admirably, and are most
easy to train if the mechanical means of training are provided, such
as wires, etc. I do not hesitate to say that the common Hedera helix
(that is, the wild ivy of the English woods) is one of the most elegant
plants ever seen when grown in closed cases, and is well adapted to
increase the interest of a collection of ferns. In some town localities
double windows are formed to exclude dust and subdue the summer
heat. Sometimes ferns are planted in those windows, and they
perish. A¥ell, if such be the case, the owner need only plant com-
mon wild ivy, and very soon the window will become a rich green
screen, the delight ofall who behold it.
It is well known that ivy is one of the best of plants for walls, but
it is not every ivy-clad wall that is a credit to its owner. Certainly,
to keep a wall well covered is worthy of the little care and expense
required. The climbing varieties of variegated ivies make superb
coverings for walls, especially the very distinct and constant Hedera
canariensis maculata. Amateurs would find much amusement in col-
lecting the variegated and other ivies, and planting them to climb up
walls, and rock-work, and about trellises, arbours, and stumps of
trees.
IMPATIENS JEEDONI-^.
[•HIS splendid plant is usually described as an annual,
but it is a perennial, and may be grown for any number
of years. I will give you an account of one that was
in my care. The plant was bought at a sale in the
autumn of 1860, and was then two years old, and
nearly a foot in diameter ; its lower branches rested on the soil,
and were rooted in the same manner as layers ; it was kept dry all
winter, only watered when it show^ed signs of shrinking from being
kept dry ; as soon as it began to grow in spring, 1801, it was top-
dressed with leaf-mould, and placed gradually at the warmest end of
148 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
the stove, and syringed twice a day and watered copiously, and
with tepid h'quid manure twice a week after being fairly started.
It was exhibited in collections of stove and greenhouse plants at
Bath, Bristol, and Cheltenham, a perfect mass of bloom. I stripped
it of all expanded flowers after each show ; as soon as it became full
of flower again, it was taken from the stove to an intermediate
house, thence to the greenhouse, free from draught ; and a few days
before exhibiting I placed it out of doors in full daylight for a few
hours each day ; by this means the colours were much more brilliant
and intensified ; it was gradually dried off", and survived the
winters of 1860-1-2. In the spring of 18G2 I gave it a large
shift, in equal parts of peat, leaf-mould, and silver sand, with a good
depth of crocks for drainage. This plant of all others is the most
brittle ; its branches bearing over the brim of the pot, I found it
impossible to knock it out in the ordinary way ; therefore I pro-
ceeded to shift it as follows : having placed two bricks a few inches
apart, the pot was placed on them, and cracked all round with a
hammer and removed piecemeal ; then two strong pieces of bass
were placed between the bricks under the ball, and it was lifted by
the pieces of bass and lowered into its place (in the same manner as
a coflln is lowered). When I left it in June, 1862, it was eighteen
inches in diameter. The best way to make a good plant in a short
time is as follows: — "When the old plant begins to push, take off
pieces about three inches long and lay them on the top of a pan or
pot filled with a sandy mixture ; they must be laid on the top and
gently pressed, as vine eyes are done ; they will soon root all along
the under surface, and throw up many shoots on the upper ; by the
autumu they are nice stocky plants. The following spring they
should be shifted without separating, and will make good plants for
show by autumn. I have always found young plants to bear the
largest flowers. Nothing can be more efl'ective than this plant is for
exhibition ; its quaint-looking flowers, of rich vermilion, green and
yellow, contrasted with its dark stems, and leaves of a purplish-
green, make it one of the very best for a conspicuous place in the
front rank, where it is sure to be mobbed. Its culture is most
simple ; but if watered much during winter, that is almost certain
death to it. In June, 1861, I planted out two plants in the open
ground ; they flowered profusely. Aisr Ex-Exhibitoe.
CULTIYATIOX OF THE MUSHEOOM.
[HE bed should be made with fresh warm stable-dung,
mixed with at least one-fourth of vegetable mould from
decayed tree leaves, or with the same quantity of well-
rotted cow-dung. Then throw it up into a heap, well
mixing it in the process, and let it lay for a week or a
fortnight to let the burning steam and heat pass off", so that the
whole may become mellow, and of an equal temperature, in which
state it is in readiness for making the bed.
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 149
In making the bed, either on the shelves or floor of the mush-
room-house, take some long litter from the dung-heap, and lay at
the bottom ; then let the prepared dung be put on in layers to the
depth of two feet, being well beaten down as the process goes on.
"When the bed is made, it is proper to have two or more trying
sticks thrust down in different parts to draw up occasionally, in
order to ascertain the heat. After the vehement heat has subsided,
and the bed is lowered to a very moderate or mild heat, then, and
not before, put in the spawn, previously breaking the large lumps
into moderately small pieces, and planting it into the dung at one
foot apart. Then take the earth of previously made exhausted beds,
and scatter it all over the surface ; it will answer two purposes.
When the spawn begins to run, cover the bed with strong rich
earth mixed with a little cow-dung, and, after it is finally earthed
over, let the surface be smoothed, and well beaten with the back of
a spade ; two inches of earth is quite sufScient.
In making mushroom beds out of doors, take a sufficient quantity
of dung prepared as already directed, and with it make the bed in
the form of a ridge, four or five feet wide at bottom, and three or
four feet high, gradually narrowed to the top. The process of
making the bed is the same as that described in the mushroom-
house. It should be made in a dry sheltered situation, and on level
ground, in preference to making the lower part in a trench, in order
to have the opportunity of spawning it quite to the bottom, and
also that water may not settle in that part to check the heat ; mark
out the proper width and intended length, and then commencing
at the bottom part by a layer of prepared dung, as before observed.
Begin at one end, and work up the sides equally in a gradually
sloping manner, and forming the ends nearly in the same proportion.
Observe to put in the spawn as before directed, for the heat should
be only sufficient to set the spawn in vegetative motion, so as to
extend its fibres into the dung and earth ; and this degree of heat
should continue for some considerable time in a moderate growing
manner, to promote and forward the knotting of the mushrooms.
When the bed is spawned, and earthed over, it may be directly
covered with a good thickness of dry straw, and an external coating
of mats, pegged down at each side of the bed.
As the mushroom is subject to the attacks of insects during the
summer months, it is necessary here to add that the only means of
keeping aw^ay the enemy is by putting a layer of coal ashes beneath
the bed, and mixing a little soot with the covering of earth. In
watering, make holes one foot apart in the bed, and fill each hole as
the bed becomes dry.
To keep up a succession throughout the season, take this as a
rule : — As soon as mushrooms appear on one bed, make the pre-
parations for another. The temperature of the mushroom-house
may be kept from 40' to 60\ In a month or six weeks after spawn-
ing, if the bed works kindly, it will produce mushrooms ; and, if
kept in good order, it will continue in bearing for several months.
In examining the beds out of doors, or when gathering the
produce, turn off the straw covering very carefully ; and, as the
150 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
advauciDg mushrooms will generally appear in several different
stages of growth, gather those only that are of a proper age — that
is, before they become large and expanded, and generally while they
remain compact and firm ; detach them by a gentle twist close to
the root, but do not cut them out, or leave the stumps in the bed,
for they bring on the rot, and become maggoty and iufectious to the
succeediug young crop, which are advancing in successional growth.
Always, as soon as the gathering is finished, cover the bed again
directly witli the straw litter, especially in cold, wet weather ; at
any rate it should never remain long uncovered ; but only occa-
sionally on dry warm days. If the earth has by any means become
very damp, tlie covering may remain ofl" two or three hours, suffi-
cient to dry the surface ; but it should be covered again as soon as
possible.
CULTUEE OF THE PELAEGOXIUM.
BY J. KIEKE.
[HE Pelargonium is well-known to be the gem of florists'
flowers, and is in the present day brought to great per-
fection, yet I cannot but regret to see so many of our
large growers so reserved and backward in bringing
their modes of cultivation before the public. In taking
up the above subject, I will make a few remarks on its cultivation,
but will not confine myself to growing for exhibition purposes. My
object is to obtain ornamental plants fit for adorning the conserva-
tory and like purposes. My experience for ten years has given me
good opportunities forjudging the most successful mode of cultivat-
ing the pelargonium, and by repeated changes of treatment I
have detected many things which are practically used in its cultiva-
tion, and proved them to be detrimental to the general welfare of
the plant.
I will commence first with the cuttings, which should be taken
off" well-ripened plants at the latter end of June or early in July,
allowing two eyes to each cutting, I then prepare some 48-sized
pots half-full of crocks, with a compost of loam, leaf-mould, and
river-sand, a third of each ingredient. In each pot I put a dozen
cuttings, then choose a half-spent dung-bed for them, keeping them
"well shaded from sun, allowing a pretty moist atmosphere not exceed-
ing 70". Give air sparingly when beginning to root, and increase it
according to their progress of rooting. Pot oflf into small GO's when
ready, and the situation I prefer for them at this stage is a low brick
pit with a little top heat ; in such a place they wiU establish them-
selves, and do well.
The stopping should be the next point to consider, which should
be done early to keep them near the pot ; they will then break, and
should be allowed to make about four shoots, which will be sufficient
for^ a 4S-sized pot, in consideration of having good blooms. They
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. lol
should now be watched minutely for a week or so, in order to get them
all stopped pretty even, and as they make a little growth should be
hardened off, and as soon as possible take off the lights, for the
hardier you get them the better they will stand the winter. For
early flowering, a fe^ of the best may be potted about September,
and placed on a dry stage, and keep them gently growing all winter ;
but those intended for flowering in May or June should be kept dry
in the pit above mentioned, watering very sparingly, and shift into
48's in February ; for tliis shift I prefer two-fourths good loam, one
of leaf-mould, and one-fourth of rotten dung, with a good sprinkling
of river-sand.
As soon as the shifting is done, should the weather be dull, a
little forcing should be given them, but give air on every favourable
opportunity, and as the weather gets warmer every day will tell
upon them, for they Avill grow rapidly. Smoking and cleaning
should be well attended to, and if any stopping is required it should
be done at once. If a few plants be required for later blooming,
they may be shifted into 82's, and in this case must be stopped
again. By April the plants should be pretty strong, and will begin
to take water freely, and a little weak liquid manure may be given
them once a week, and the syringe may be used sometimes on fine
sunny mornings. I have no doubt I shall meet wath a good deal of
ditierence of opinion about the use of the syringe, for it is the idea
of a good many growers that it tends to bring damp, spot, and other
diseases. But as I never found such diseases among my plants, I
have no inclination to alter my views ; and my opinion is, where
such diseases do exist, it is caused by irregular watering or bad
drainage.
Sticking and tying should be the next point to consider, which
should be done as they throw up their buds, and give water freely,
for at this season the pelargonium will keep its foliage and have a
better appearance by an abundant supply of water than it would by
allowing it to frequently get dry. Be careful how you apply liquid
manure, for if given too strong it would soon put them in a sickly
state ; and as the flowers open, liquid manure may be discontinued
altogether, for the plants will set their blooms and afterwards ripen
their wood better without it; in fact, if it continued until the plants
are cut down, it is a question of doubt whether the cuttings would
strike.
As your plants cease flowering, they should be stood out in the
open air to get well ripened, and should be cut down and kept dry,
with a sprinkling overhead occasionally. In the operation of cutting
down, three eyes should be left, from each of which it will break, for
nothing is got by cutting too near the stem, and very often the death
of your favourites may be attributed to no other cause. Six weeks
is long enough for the plants to break and make a nice growth, and
they should then be shaken out and repotted into smaller pots,
taking care to well trim in the roots. Stand them out on a bed of
ashes, to keep all worms out of the pots, and the growth they make
will be of a hardy and strong nature, and they will better endure
being kept close in the winter months. "When the time for housing
152 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE.
arrives, they should have a dry stage, and should be repotted into
larger pots in February.
In concluding my few remarks I must say a great deal has been
said and written on the pelargonium, but the secret is very much the
same as with most other flowers, for there should be strict attention
in all plant-growing, and this in conjunction with the above direc-
tions would produce ornamental plants, and adapted for any purpose.
Perhaps I may venture to give a short list of the names of those
which I consider the best for general purposes : — Hose Celestial,
Glowworm, Empress Eugenie, ^jax, Symmetry, The Bride, Vestal,
Madame Pescatore. Madame Place, Madame Van Houtte, Geant des
Batailles, Larkfield Eival, Desdemona, Blink Bonny, Kiehard Ben-
yon, and Eoyal White — the last-mentioned one being a seedling*fi:om
the superb collection of Mr. Bruce, of the Richmond Eoad Nursery ;
petals large, beautiful shape, with a dark spot on upper petals, and
an abundant bloomer ; it is decidedly the best of its class, and richly
merits a place in every collection.
SELECT BEDDING COMBINATIONS.
A TEW CIECULAE BEDS.
ENTRE of Geranium Rose Rendatler, or Eeaufe de Suresnes ; band of
Calceolaria angustifolia ; margin of Flower of the Day Geranium.
Centre, a specimen tree, such as Standard Portugal Laurel, Arau-
caria imbricata, etc.; solid blocks of Lobelia speciosa, or Lobelia Blue
King, edged with Cerastium tomentosum. This is an effective mode of
planting circles in which specimen trees are planted, near promenades, walks, etc.;
bat it needs, of course, that the circles should be separated by oblongs of scarlet,
yellow, etc., etc.
Cefitre, vase, sun-dial, or tree causing little shade; circle of gi'ass, or Litho-
spermum fruticosum, or some dwarf green plant ; then, circles of Geranium Stella,
Geranium Christine, and margin of Geranium Bijou. This arrangement, like the
first, admits of variation ad infinitum ; the principle being to separate the central
object from the colours by a green band, and then to follow with narrow circles of
strong colours, and add a bold edging.
Centre of Centaurea gymnocarpa ; and broad band of Amaranthus melan-
cholicus.
Centre, vase, statue, or sun-dial ; circle of Spergula pilifera; next, circle of
Geranium Flower of Spring, Rose Queen, C} bister, and Christine.
Centre, vase or tree ; green space surrounding it to be omitted, and filled instead
with Geranium Oriana, or Lady Palmerston ; next, Calceolaria canariensis ;' and
outside, a band of Amaranthus melancholicus.
Centre of Amaranthus melancholicus ; broad band of Cineraria maritiraa ; nar-
row margin of Lobelia speciosa. The last two arrangements are suitable for small
beds ; we now suggest a few modes of planting oblongs.
Centre, block of Geranium Crystal Palace; broad band of Chrictine ; broad
margin of Yerl)ena Purple King. This is bold and brilliant, and very effective on a
terrace, if repeated throughout one of the levels, and a neutral circle between every
two oblongs ; or if a very strong eflfect is desired, circles of grey and yellow to alter-
nate with them.
Centre, block of Stella ; narrow band of Minnie ; margin of Purple King Ver-
bena. Like the last, this is full of power, aad may be dealt with in the same way
as to relief, etc.
Large block of Tropseolum Tom Thumb ; margin of Lobelia speciosa.
THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 153
Large block of Geranium Flower of the Day; broad margin of Lobelia
speciosa.
Large block of Geranium Beauty of Blackheath ; broad band of Lobelia
speciosa.
Large block of Calceolaria Gem ; broad margin of Lobelia Paxtoniana.
Large block of Crystal Palace Geranium ; narrow band of Calceolaria aurea
floribunda ; margin of Geranium Flower of the Day. This is a suitable style for
beds forming the outer parts of a design. If a pink Geranium is substituted for the
scarlet, there will be a gain of light, and a proportionate enlargement of the space.
Centre, block of Calceolaria Gaines's yellow ; broad band of Geranium Attrac-
tion ; margin of Lobelia speciosa. This is a good three-coloured mass to stand
alone. It is less effective when in combination with other masses.
CHAIN PATTERNS.
* These are formed by connecting oblongs and circles together by short links, or
miniature ribands. They aie most appropriate on the margin of spacious lawns,
where the surroundinjs are all of an elegant kind, and in harmony with the Italian
style of terrace embellishment. The planting of chain patterns must behold and
brilliant. Let us suppose we have a series of large elliptic beds, and intermediate
small circular beds, connected together with links ; then it will be in good taste to
plant the circles with pink Ivy-leaf Geranium in the centre, and the ellipsis with
scarlet Geranium in the centre ; then, to surround the two central masses v/ith
Geranium Cloth of Gold, and to form the links and margins of all the beds 'of varie-
gated Alyssum.
Another good chain may be produced as follows : — a large oval, a link, a small
circle, a link, another small circle, a link, a large oval, and so on throughout. Then
let the ovals have centres of Tom Thumb Geranium, and the circles have centres
of Christine Geranium. Surround the Scarlet Geranium, and tbe pink Geranium,
with Calceolaria aurantia ; and edge all the beds, and form the links with variegated
Alyssum.
MIXTURES.
Geranium Cloth of Gold, and Lobelia speciosa, plant and plant, edged with
Lobelia Paxtoniana, is a most beautiful mixture.
Perilla and Cineraria has a mournful — indeed, funeral aspect ; yet is beautiful,
and very distinct indeed from all ordinary modes of colouring.
Geranium Silver Chain, and Lobelia speciosa, plant and plant, with edging of
Amaranth us, is both novel and eflfective.
Iresine Herbstii and Centaurea gymnocarpa, or Coleus Verschaffelti, and Cine-
raria maritima, plant and plant, with edgings of Cloth of Gold, not allowed to flower,
is rich, novel, and peculiar.
Verbena Melindres, mixed with Geranium Silver Queen, and edged with Golden
Ivy-leaved Geranium, or Verbena Melindres, mixed with Lady Plymouth Geranium,
makes a good match to the last. The edging to be the same.
Amaranthus melancholicus, and Centaurea ragusina, edged with Lobelia spe-
ciosa; remarkably rich and classical.
Geranium Flower of the Day, and variegated Alyssum, mixed plant and plant,
edged with Geranium Firebrand, produces a glittering effect ; scarcely bearable
to the eye when the sun shines, and a surprise to any who have not seen it
before,
Delphinium formosum to be planted in rows, fifteen inches apart, and to be
pegged down, so that the flowers and leaves will rise only eighteen inches high, as
early in the season as the weather will permit; strong plants, full of bloom, of
Geranium Tom Thumb to be planted between the Delphinium. For a considerable
time this Avill be a grand combination of blue and scarlet ; when the Delphinium
is over, the Geraniums will spread, and make a fine self-bed of scarlet. Any grey
edging will suit for this.
154
SNCER-POST FOR PDRCHASEBS
©F Pimn, SEEDS, ETC.
A SELECTION OF GERANIUMS (ZOX.ITE
PELARGONIOIS) FOR VARIOUS PUR-
POSES.
Fifty cheap hut superb varieties for a small
i^-^^^ collection^ comprising all the colours. — Adonis,
^^ Anceiina Griseau, Amy Hogg, Andrew Marvel,
Beaute de Suresnes, Biack Dwarf, Cbiefrain,
P ' Christine, Commissioner, Coquette de Rneil,
^^^ Cvbister, Dr. Lindley, Eugenie Mtzard, Excellent,
Faust, Eerald of Spring, Jules Cfesar, Lady Middleton, Ma-
dame Xinette;^Sachero, Le Prophete, Lord of the Isles, Madame Barre,
Madame Taucber, Madame Werle, Mag 
