54 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [ MAUCn, 



berries differ so mucli in habit that we are obliged to protect the buds in different 

 ways. Thus the upright growers are tied up in bundles with hay or straw bands, 

 while those of a pendulous habit are covered in all round each bush with laurel 

 branches stuck in the ground, and tied at the top with hay-bands. The Currant 

 bushes are tied up in the same way as the Gooseberries where it can be done, 

 but those on the north walls are well covered over with white worsted. This, I 

 find, the birds do not like to get entangled in, and it can remain on without 

 doing any harm to the trees ; but the bushes that are tied up must be untied, 

 and the laurels taken away as soon as the buds begin to burst in the spring. 



The north walls are by far the best places for currant-growing, being more easily 

 protected by netting, besides which the fruit will keep there at least two months 

 after it is ripe, provided the birds, wasps, (Src, are kept from it. I wish we had 

 "the same means of protecting the gooseberries when in fruit. Netting them is 

 almost useless, at least it is so here, as the blackbirds will sit on the nets, or creep 

 underneath, until the bush is cleared of its fruit. I hope some of your contribu- 

 tors will give us the result of their experience on this subject ; for although the 

 gooseberry and currant are but common fruits when compared with the grape, 

 pine, peach, etc., the}' are too valuable to be dispensed with. — William Plester, 

 Elsenham Hall Gardens. 



VITIS POLYMORPHA. 



,.;^J^})ERMIT me to call attention to this Vine as a climbing plant, which I 

 ,^ consider superior to Ainpelopsis Veitchii for the furnishing of walls, &g. 

 ""Sy ^^ ^^ ^^^^ luxuriant than that plant, but still of a free habit, and it clings 

 Ss firmly to whatever object it may attach itself to. The foliage is of 

 medium size, in form more elliptical than otherwise, and the colour bj' the 

 beginning of September is something between vermilion and light red. This 

 plant is, I suspect, by no means common, as I have never met with it elsewhere, 

 nor does it appear to be known when pointed out to visitors. It reached us 

 through a private source, which may account for its scarcity. — Alexander 

 Ckamb, Tort worth. 



CODI.EUM (CKOTON) WEISMANXL 



v/T-^.ERTAINLYwe have here one of the finest of the multifarious foiTas of the 

 (^i^ Croton vaviegatum which have been introduced within the last few years 

 v^ from the islands of the Pacific. It is indeed a glorious acquisition, being 

 vcT of very graceful habit, and of free growth. The leaves, as will be seen 

 from our illustration, kindly furnished by Messrs. Veitch and Sons, are long and 

 narrow — technically, linear-oblong — attaining a length of from ten inches to 

 twelve inches, and a width of about three-quarters of an inch, tenuinatmg in an 

 acute point. The upper surface is of a dai-k shining green, with golden blotches, 

 the midrib and margins rich golden yellow. The under-surface is of a paler 

 green, but similarly marked. It is a plant of remarkable beauty, and is, no 



