38 



THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



rose papers. What most concerns me 

 now is root grafting ; when should it be 

 done, and how? — J. B., Leicester. [Do 

 it at once, by whip-grafting, and plant 

 directly.] 



Anacharis alsinastrcm. — The dreaded 

 Anacharis alsinastrum has made its ap- 

 pearance here in the river Barrow. I 

 first observed it in small quantities in 

 1862. Last summer it had complete 

 possession. I am not aware if it has 

 been observed in Ireland before. Can 

 you in your next number give your 

 Irish cousins so:ne idea as to how it 

 came to England and how it has come 

 over here; it is a sad pest to millers, 

 completely blocking up the water. — 

 Frederick Haughton, Maganny, Ireland. 

 [At page 61 of the "Book of the 

 Aquarium," it is stated that this water 

 thyme Was first noticed by Dr. G. John- 

 ston, in a pond at Dunse Castle, Ber- 

 wick, in 1842. Dr. Johnston sent some 

 of it to Mr. Babington at Cambridge. 

 There it speedily increased in the Bota- 

 nic Garden, and in time got into the 

 Cam, and thence into other rivers, and 

 so was distributed throughout the 

 country. It is a native of North Ame- 

 rica, and is believed to have been ori- 

 ginally introduced by means of the 

 attachment of plants to imported tim- 

 ber. How it has found its way to Ire- 

 land we cannot imagine, but there is no 

 mystery in the rapid spreading and pro- 

 pagating of a plant which possesses 

 more than an ordinary share of vitality, 

 for a scrap an inch long, once lodged in 

 the bed of a river, would suffice to choke 

 the stream in a very few years. But 

 the great question is how to" get rid of 

 it ? "We know of but two methods, one 

 is constant dragging, which is expen- 

 sive, only partially effectual, and needs 

 to be constantly repeated. The other is 

 to launch a fleet of swans on the stream ; 

 these noble birds are excessively fond of 

 Anacharis, and eat it with such voracity 

 that it is impossible any river can long 

 be choked by it if the swans are suffi- 

 cient in number to eat it as fast as it 

 grows.] 



Coleus Verschaffelti. — Langley Fitz- 

 hurst. — This and the pretty C. Blumei 

 require to be kept all winter in the same 

 way as variegated leaved begonias. The 

 proper place for them is a stove or warm 

 greenhouse ; if in the stove they may 

 have moderate supplies of water, and be 

 kept growing slowly ; if in a green- 

 house very little water indeed. The 

 simplest and quickest way to propagate 

 is to put the plants now into a warm 



moist temperature, nothing so good as a 

 dung-bed, with a brisk heat. Here they 

 will produce abundance of shoots, which 

 may be taken off when two or three 

 inches long, dibbled into sandy peat, 

 and placed on a bottom-heat of 70°, and 

 they will root immediately. "We had 

 one small plant of C. Verschaffelti the 

 first spring it was sent over from the 

 Continent, and from this we raised just 

 fifty-nine plants on a dung-bed, and all 

 were strong enough to plant out in June 

 of the same year. 

 The Appeal. — Received for poor Botanist, 

 Q. T. S., Bote, £1 Is. ; J. S. Brentingly, 

 3s. ; Bev. B. B. Atherstone, 5s. ; H. R. 

 Bedland, £\ ; S. C. M. Is. ; Jan. 5, 

 Reading, 5s. ; Lady D., 5s. The3e 

 amounts have been paid over, and the 

 recipient is grateful. 



Rhododendron ponticum. — A. B. — 

 This, the commonest of the rhododen- 

 drons, is as fruitful in varieties as any 

 of them, but it may always be known 

 whatever its peculiarities, by the pecu- 

 liar leafage and habit. When choice 

 hvbrids are grafted on it, the stock is 

 not so readily adaptable to a variety of 

 soils as when it carries its own head, 

 and therefore if good varieties are ob- 

 tained, grafted on ponticum, our advice 

 is, let them have good peat, or a suitable 

 mixture of sand and leaf-mould. 



Genetillis tulipifera. — Rock Lodge. — 

 This charming evergreen and its asso- 

 ciate Hederoma, are among the easiest 

 of greenhouse plants to grow to perfec- 

 tion. Let the soil be light and rich ; 

 never suffer them to get starved, repot 

 in spring, syringe frequently while 

 making new growth, and otherwise let 

 the treatment be the same as for a 

 myrtle. 



Cassia corymbosa.— Thanks are returned 

 to the Editor of the Floral World for 

 the kind notice taken of inquiries re- 

 specting Cassia corymbosa, and in 

 answer to the question "did it require 

 or get protection through the winter?" 

 I beg to state that the first winter it had 

 only a little ashes placed around its 

 stem, and over its roots. The second 

 winter the same ; last winter pine 

 branches surrounded it. This season a 

 light covering of reed net is over it, 

 and so far it is perfectly uninjured. It 

 is against an eastern wall, and in rather 

 a cold situation. — A. P. B. 



Blue Lobelia. — R.B. — On the 21st of 

 December last we saw at a nursery 

 enough seedlings of blue lobelia to make 

 a mile of edging, so that you may judge 

 that it is not too early to sow at once for 



