190 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST, AUGUST, 



of the Victor Yerdier race ; colour, clear salmon-flesh ; a fine Rose. H.P. Captain Christi/ 

 (Lacharme), lij^ht salmon, petals edged •with white ; a new and fine distinct-habited kind. 

 Tea, Shirlej/ Hihhp.rd (Levet). a small Tea. of the Madame Falcot race, so valnable for florists, 

 light 3almon-buS', beautiful in the bud. Tea. Marie Guillot (Guillot fils), a pure white, with 

 large outer petals, which promises to make a fine show Rose. 



^HE perennial Asters, sometimes termed Autumn Daisies^ furnish some 



most valuable decorative plants for the open ground during autumn. Aster 

 Amellus is one of the best of them, bearing plenty of flowering stems numerously 

 branched at the top, the flowers violet-blue. Neat clumps of this, dotted about shrubbery 

 borders, or at the back of mixed beds, form most welcome masses of a very acceptable hue 

 of colour in our gardens right up to November. A violet-coloured variety of A. Amellus, 

 aamed hessarahicus, is a good decorative plant also. There are many other kinds of Aster 

 scarcely lees valuable. 



225hen, at a recent meeting of the Belgian Cercle (£ ArhoricuUuve^ one 



of the Professors told his audience of horticulturists that Sap does not circulate^ 

 and another maintained that there is no s>ich thing as sap, a blow was aimed at 

 the practice which is based on the theory of the existence and circulation of a nutrient fluid. 

 The Professors indeed, says the Gardeners' Chronicle, were indulging in paradox, but they 

 were taking a most effective way of attacking a vulgar error. The actual process is much 

 more complex than this. There are, indeed, currents within the plant, some taking place at 

 one time, some at another, some in one part of a plant, some in another, according to cir- 

 cumstances of season, temperature, and to the particular work— as wood-making, flower- 

 forming, starch-making, seed-developing. &c. — which is going on ; but scientific men have 

 for some time known that the old notion of the existence of an upward current followed by a 

 downward current, like the flow and return in hot-water pipes, required considerable 

 modification ; and it was to correct this notion that the statements in question were made.* 



GAEDEN WOEK FOE AUGUST. 



FLOWERS. 



'HE flower-garden should, in August, touch perfection. As the nights 

 lengthen, the beauty and brilliancy of the flowers, as well as their growth, 

 should strengthen ; they seem throughout this month to enjoy the long, 

 cool nights, while the dews have not yet become heavy enough to rest 

 upon and destroy the flowers of Pelargoniums, &c., as they do later in the 

 season. The autumnal dews are much more destructive than rain ; being finer, 

 I presume the flowers get a heavier load of water, and cannot bear up against it. 

 The regulation of growth — training, tying, and picking — will still be the routine 

 work among flowers. Each seems a little thing, but it is precisely a succession 

 of Buch that forms and reveals perfect beauty in the flower garden. Watch the 

 artist at his easel. A touch here, a tint there, a shade yonder, a succession of 

 tiny touches that seem to the uninstructed child's-play, come day after day, and 

 it seems the same thing ; but behold ! at the end of the season, a work of art 

 that has made that artist immortal ! It is much the same in gardens. The impress 

 of neglect must find no place among flowers in August. It is more apt to assert 

 itself in mixed gardens, and on mixed borders, than in the regularly-grouped 

 flower garden ; and it needs to be specially guarded against in such positions. 

 All such gardens should be gone over weekly, like the grass, the growth nicely 

 balanced, and any traces of death removed. As to weeds, the very sight of them 

 and the enjoyment of beauty are quite incompatible. Gravel should be at its 

 brightest, smoothest, cleanliest, and nothing renders walks so enjoyable in dry 

 weather as late-evening waterings, with a thorough rolling about 8 a.m. 



If any thinnings and prunings can be spared from the beds, they should be 

 used for cuttings. The earlier Pelargoniums are rooted, the better they keep 

 for the winter. Among Bos«s^ many of the Perpetuals are cut back to induce 



