THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



103 



PROFITABLE GARDENING.* 



This is a reprint of the papers which 

 have appeared under this general heading 

 in the Flokal World, but with additions 

 and illustrations. Our friends have fre- 

 quently suggested to us the desirability of 

 a repubhcatiou in the form of a volume 

 of those papers, and their wish is now 

 gratified, and they can have the book for 

 3*. 6d. It will be found a very complete 



manual for the kitchen and fruit garden, 

 as it embodies the results of much experi- 

 mental as well as ordinary routine cul- 

 ture of all our most useful fruits and vege- 

 tables. It is selling so fast that we are 

 already satisfied we did right in conceding 

 to the wishes of good frieuds, and we leave 

 it for the readers to determine what are its 

 merits and defects. 



FLOWER SHOWS OF MARCH AND APRIL. 



Royal Botanic Sociktt, March 

 28tli. — The tent appropriated to the 

 exhibitors wa8 admirably filled ; on 

 one side was a bank of specimen 

 plants, and on the other the great 

 collection of hyacinths, tulips, cut 

 roses, and small plants in flower. At 

 the head of the tent Messrs. Standish 

 and Veitch united the two depart- 

 ments by means of a bank of no- 

 velties, which carried the visitors to 

 the plants one way and to the flowers 

 another. This collection of novelties 

 comprised subjects that have been 

 many times exhibited, yet they are 

 all novelties still, and the greater part 

 of them are undoubtedly destined to 

 make some marked effect upon the 

 aspect of English gardens in time to 

 come. The most striking plant in 

 Mr. Standish's lot was Retinospora 

 pisifera, the margin of the tufts of 

 leaves being of a rich yellow colour, 

 and looking as if each separate bundle 

 of twigs terminated in gold fringe. 

 The variegated form of the umbrella 

 pine, Sciadopitys verticillata varie- 

 gata, cannot be judged in a small 

 state ; no doubt if the variegation is 

 permanent, a great tree of this pine, 

 on a lawn or knoll in a park, will be 

 one of the most remarkable objects 

 yet seen in an English landscape. 

 Another of the really useful things 

 from the same noted grower, was 

 Eleagnus Japonicus variegatus, a 

 charming shrub. The green-leaved 

 Aucuba Japonica was shown, in both 

 the male and female form, by Mr. 



Standish and others. Among the 

 more showy of the novelties, Messrs. 

 Veitch made a good effect with a 

 huge plant of Maranta vittata, the 

 large leaves regularly cross-barred 

 with silver lines ; but better still was 

 a plant of the charming Rhododen- 

 dron Jasminiflorum, with its large 

 creamy, jasmine-like blossoms, the 

 most beautiful of all the small- 

 flowered rhododendrons. 



Mr. Bull sent a nice lot of plants, 

 the rarest and best of which was 

 Gleichenia flabellulata, with very 

 strap-shaped lax-looking fronds, so 

 densely produced that the plant 

 looked as solid as a ball, showing as 

 much of good culture as the merit 

 of the species. The collections of 

 amaryllis from Messrs. Cutbush and 

 E. G. Henderson, were very fine. 

 Those from Messrs. Cutbush were 

 beginning to look the worse for wear, 

 having already done duty upon several 

 occasions. Among those from Messrs. 

 E. G. Henderson and Co. was a 

 batch of unnamed seedlings, several 

 of which were exceedingly good, with 

 cerise and rose-coloured flowers, be- 

 sides two magnificent scarlets, de- 

 serving to be placed as the standards 

 of excellence at this juncture in the 

 progress of the amaryllis. 



The smaller subjects consisted 

 chiefly of cinerarias and cyclamens. 

 Mr. Holland, gardener to R. W. 

 Peake, Esq., obtaining a silver medal 

 for the best twelve Cyclamen Per- 

 sicum ; these comprised the white 



• " Profitable Gardening : a Practical Guide to the Culture of Vegetables, Fruits, and other 

 useful out-door Garden Products ; intended for the use of Amateurs, Gentlemen's Gardeners, 

 Allottees, and Growers for Market." By Shirley Hibberd, F.R.H.S. Loadou : Groombridge and 

 Sons, Paternoster Row. 



