1 873-] SUMAIING UP. 545 



that of the plant 1 There must be. Liquids there are, certain death 

 to the genus Coccus, and quite safe on all but the tenderest foliage ; 

 but price is the obstacle. 



This has been eminently a controversial year. There have been, 

 among others, a little Pea war, and rumours of a great Pea war : the 

 claimants among Peas are becoming very numerous, with plausible 

 pretensions difficult to prove. ^Ye have Supremes and Superlatives, 

 Alphas and Omegas, the best of all — and probably among them the 

 worst of all. Some of them might be recommended to Jack as rival- 

 ling his Bean-stalk : some are cons23icuous, like other claimants, for size. 

 Somehow we cannot get over an old prejudice in favour of Sangster, 

 Ringleader, Ne plus ultra, and Veitch's Perfection. Good things in- 

 variably make their way : of these are Osborn's Bean and Beet, and 

 Yeitch's Cauliflower and Dwarf Erfurt for all seasons — though not a 

 new thing. 



In flower-gardening the progress has still further been in the way of 

 carpet-bedding, with a greater use of really hardy plants, and plants 

 which require but slight protection in winter. Standard plants, such 

 as Weeping Hollies or Acer negundo variegata, work well in with 

 this style of bedding. Sedum spectabile and Telephium roseum are 

 hardy plants which should be much more generally grown. Seed sown 

 now will make nice plants for next May, to flower in autumn. The 

 seeds are very fine, and must not be covered. Geraniums are becom- 

 ing a drug, unless it be very dwarf sorts, which ought to be the aim 

 of raisers for the present. 



The Calceolaria disease has been very prevalent ; but if Calceolarias 

 were very much earlier planted in the beds than they are — say the end 

 of April — we should hear less of disease. In the first bed we planted 

 early in the bedding season, we did not lose a plant : of those planted 

 late in May many were lost. The Calceolaria comes from a cool cli- 

 mate, high up on the Andes, below the snow-line, where the roots are 

 constantly in a moist state from melted snow ; so that the plant be- 

 comes quite paralysed by heat and drought, or by having the supplies 

 cut off at the time of removal. The Cineraria sometimes suffers in 

 precisely the same way ; and the damping of the Chinese Primula is, 

 we think, also explained in this way. It being really a moisture-loving 

 plant, keeping it dry at the root to check damping really aggravates 

 the disease. The Cucumber disease has also been very prevalent, and 

 seems a more difficult matter to deal with. We think, however, that 

 a brisk bottom-heat and a limited amount of soil to grow in would 

 obviate the disease very much. We don't believe the disease follows 

 the seed; but like the Potato disease, the Calceolaria disease, and 

 other vegetable diseases, indoors and out, is more a climatic effect. 



