140 



TUE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



IMay, 



character. We do not remember seeing Pan- 

 danus utilis in flower; but one, in Mr. Henry 

 Sliaw's Missouri But. Ganlcn at St. Louis is 

 now throwing up a flower spike. It is twenty- 

 five years old. 



TR.\c-HKLosrERMi'M (Rfiyxcospkrmum,) Jasmin- 

 oiDES. — We recently noted that this was one 

 of the best of white flowering late Winter 

 climbers. Confirming our opinion, we find a 

 magnificent specimen trained along the apex of 

 the roof of one of Mr. Conrad Kirckner's green- 

 houses, which was profusely blooming along a 

 length of fifty feet. As it flowers before Easter, 

 when sw.eet white flowers are in so much de- 

 mand, Mr. K. who is a florist, finds profit as 

 well as pleasure in the flowers. 



Improved Cixer.\rias. — On a recent visit to 

 the nurseries of Miller and Hayes, we were im- 

 pressed with the great change which has been 

 made in the Cineraria of late years. Some of 

 these changes are simply changes— others are 

 beautiful improvemonts. There are kinds with 

 a dwarf habit, and with heads so large and flat, 

 with each flower packed so closely together as 

 to Jook like the tremendous " bouquets," one 

 can buy at a street corner for a " quarter." But 

 the broad, round, ray florets, and the decisive 

 and boldly-marked colors of many of the forms 

 can truly be termed beauties. Instead of 

 these compact bunches of flowers, if improvers 

 would aim at a little gracefulness of form in the 

 plant growth, as well as good firm petals and 

 harmonious coloring, we think this good old 

 plant would be more popular with tasteful 

 people. 



Flowering of Agave Shawii. — This new 

 species, named after Mr. Shaw, the well-known 

 and generous proprietor of the Botanic Gar- 

 dens of St. Louis, is about to flower there. It is 

 but floral justice that a plant so named, should 

 honor the choice by first flowering in these 

 grounds. 



Hyacinth Leaves.— A newspaper paragraph 

 Bays, that the leaves of the Hyacinth, cut ofl' 

 near the bulb, will make new bulbs as Gerani- 

 um leaves do. 



QUERIES. 



Propagating Hyacinths from Leaves.— A. S., 



Cleveland, Ohio, writes : — " I notice in a Cleve- 

 land paper, that a gardener of Berlin has made 

 the discovery that Hyacinths may be propagated 

 by their leaves; in cutting them close to the 

 bulb, places them in a sauier and covers with 

 a thin layer of sandy leaf n)ould. The saucer 

 having been placed in a greenhouse, the extremi- 

 ties of the leaves will begin to turn dry in about 

 eight weeks, a sure sign that bulbs are growing 

 out of them. Will you give us, Mr. Editor, 

 your opinion about it through the Gardener's 

 Monthly f " 



[We know of no reason wliy the statement 

 may not be entirely correct. But it will be of 

 little practical use to Americans who do not 

 raise the bulbs for propagation. They increase 

 by offsets, as fast as any one in this country needs 

 to raise them. — Ed. G. M.] 



Monstrous Abutilon. — H, H. D., Wilkea 

 Barre, Pa., writes : — " I enclose you a flower 

 taken from an Abutilon. Will you please give 

 me the variety and state whether it is usual for 

 them to flower double? " 



[Two perfect flowers from one calyx of Abu- 

 tilon vexillarium. It would be of great interest 

 did it always come so. But they are of much 

 the same character as double-yolked eggs. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Flowering of Primula. — S. O. K., Jackson, 

 Mich., with an interesting specimen, says: — "In 

 noticing your reply to inquiries of H. L., Dan- 

 ville, Va., about Chinese Primroses, I conclude to 

 send you a flower-stem of a seedling I have, which 

 has been in bloom about seven months, and the 

 trusses average from three to five whorls. It is 

 a very pretty single variety, and I thought per- 

 haps a curiosity. " 



Salvia marmorata. — G. A., West Chester, Pa., 

 writes : — " I send you a little box with flowera of 

 the Salvia marmorata nana, it grows only to 

 about fourteen inches high and is of very free 

 flowering habit. It has bloomed for me the 

 whole Winter; comes true from cuttings. I 

 think it will prove one of our best bedding and 

 market plants. 



[This marbled variety of the Scarlet Sage, is 

 not uncommon in greenhouses, and makes a 

 very good variety. It is a sport from the white 

 variety, which sometimes comes entirely scarlet, 

 as well as marbled ; the dwarf character may be 

 new. — Ed. G. M.] 



