03 



TO COBEESPOKDENTS. 



A Heavy Pumpkin. — It may interest some of your readers to know that I cut in 

 the autumn of 18(58 a large pumpkin which weighed 126 lbs., or nine stones, and a 

 little over, it measured 71g inches in circumference. Had the season been more 

 favourable in respect of rain, I have little doubt that it would have attained to a 

 much heavier weight, at> it was far from being ripe when cut. — E. W. A. G. [It 

 would be interesting to gather up a few facts about weights of English grown 

 gourds, the heaviest we ourselves have any record of was 180 lbs.] 



Grafting Aucuba, Euonymus, and Ivy. — /. W. — All these, and other plants 

 of like character, may be grafted in February and March, also in September, 

 October, and November. February is the best time, when the plants can have the 

 aid of glass and a gentle heat soon after the grafts are put on, hut they take pretty 

 well if grafted in September, and at once shut up in frames, and so kept throughout 

 the winter. Although we have collections of these and similar plants, and pro- 

 pagate a considerable number, we have quite given up grafting, finding that plants 

 on their own roots grow freely, and are most easily obtained by taking cuttings at 

 the end of July, and keeping them rather close in pits and frames until the following 

 May. 



Vermin on Verbenas. — E. W. D. — The grubs, you send, will not injure your 

 plants, as they are not vegetable eaters. They have been brought in by means of 

 the soil. We believe them to be the larvae of cocclnella 22-punctata, a rare and 

 beautiful ladybird. Do not destroy them. 



Symphyandkia pendui.a. — I see this recommended in Mr. Williams's very 

 useful paper on "Nooks and Corners." I have referred to quite a dozen books and 

 catalogues, amongst others to E. G. Henderson and Sons' excellent cutalogue of 

 hardy herbaceous plants, and have not found it. What is it ? and where is it ? — 

 A Nook and Counfr Gardener. [It is a scarce plant, of the campanula 

 family, native of Caucasus, where it grows amongst rocks. The stems are branched, 

 pendulous, the leaves ovate, velvety, the flowers panicled, drooping, cream coloured. 

 The only references we can give for it are Sweet's "Flower Garden," new series, 

 . 66, and Don's " Dichlimydeous Plants," iii. 771.] 



Araucaria imbricata. — In reply to the inquiry of a subscriber in the Floral 

 World, in reference to the greatest height attained by the araucaria in England, 

 I can inform him that there are two magnificent specimens in the grounds of Lord 

 Mansfield at Caen Wood, Hampstead, less than five miles from St Paul's. It is 

 some years now since I saw them, but Cockburn, the gardener, used to say that 

 with one exception, he believed they were the largest in England. Mr. G. Wyness, 

 the present head gardener at Caen Wood, no doubt would give the present dimensions 

 of these trees. 



Thy ks acanthus rutilans.— J. W. — This beautiful stove plant produces a 

 number of thread-like flower stems which arch over and droop down in a whip-like 

 manner, and soon become brilliantly clothed with crimson or scarlet tubular flowers. 

 Its proper season of flowering is winter. The best way to grow it is to take 

 cuttings in March, and after they are struck in a brisk hent, to grow them on 

 generously in the stove. If large specimens are required, the old plants must be 

 kept ; but, as a rule, it is best to raise a fresh stock every year. Dipteracanthus 

 affinis may be treated in the same way. 



Various. — Delighted Reader.- — Your plant is probably Eichardia ^Ethiopica, 

 otherwise Calla JEihinpica, otherwise Arum vEthiopicurn, better known everywhere 

 as the " Trumpet Lily." At all events, there is no such thing in botany as a 

 " Nairou." — R. S. W. J}.— You cannot do better than order the " Rose Book," the 

 " Town Garden," and Moore's " Handbook of Ferns," all published by Messrs. 

 Grocmbridge and Son. The work on " Beautiful-Leaved Plants," is in course of 

 publication by Messrs. Bell andDaldv, inoneshuTmg monthly parts. — W. Selby. — We 

 really do not know which of the British Ferns should be called the " Shuttlecock." 

 Perhaps we are too energetic in our contempt for such names, because of the mistakes 

 that arise through, us ng them — certainly we know several ferns, such as Lastrea 

 filix mas, and Polystichum lonchitis, for example, that might be so designated. 

 It is simply absurd for people to write to us complaining of the employment in these 

 pages of the proper botanical names of plants, for no other names are to be trusted 



