234 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^August, 



IMPROVED CINERARIAS. 



BY 1'., UOSTON, MASS. 



At p. 140 of the May Monthly you refer to the 

 recent cl)ivn<;c in Cinerarias, and mention flie 

 dwarf-iiabited sorts with large ilat heads of bloom 

 and closely packed flowers. Mr. Paterson, of 

 Oakley, Mass., surpasses anything in the way of 

 Cineraria growing, I have seen in this country 

 or any other, and although for years I attended 

 every London flower-show, I never saw anything 

 to equal Mr. P.'s plants as regards size, health 

 and multitude of flowers. James of Isleworth 

 and a few others who reduce Cineraria excel- 

 lence to the florist's nicety of bloom, might not 

 countenance the varieties, but as a batch of 

 seedlings, the majority of the plants had a size, 

 purity, brilliance and symmetry of bloom that 

 were quite remarkable, and plainly showed the 

 result of carefully selected home-saved seeds. 

 The flower-heads of Mr. P.'s plants averaged 

 from 18 inches to 3 feet in diameter, and as dense 

 as ever blooms were on an Azalea. 



Incited by glowing descriptions of the im- 

 proved dwarf strain, Mr. P. imported seeds, and 

 raised therefrom a set of plants in every way 

 treated alike with his own strain. The result 

 was disappointment. The plants were stocky with 

 dense flower-heads, but the blooms were small, 

 washy and of great sameness in coloring; be- 

 sides, for conservatory decoration or for cut 

 flowers, they were inferior to his own old kind. 



ADIANTUM FARLEYENSE AS A ROOM PLANT. 



BY MRS. C. E. M. 



I notice that one of your contributors writes 

 of this as not doing well e.Kcef)t in a greenhouse 

 atmosphere, and where a temperature of 65° is 

 maintained. This may be so where very fine 

 specimens are desired, such as we see now and 

 then at the Horticultural exhibits, but I find 

 that it does quite well enough to satisfy any lady 

 gardener who has no greenhouse, as a common 

 window plant. Last winter a year, a kind friend 

 in Xew Orleans gave me a nice plant as a me- 

 mento. It was in a five-inch pot, and I brought 

 it North with me in my trunk. Coming from a 

 hot-house, the leaves were much injured by a 

 week's confinement, but it" soon put out new 

 ones. Several florists who saw the plant told me 

 that as I had no greenhouse, I could not raise it, 

 and begged me to give it to them. But it is now, 



after eighteen months, better than when I 

 brought it. I treat it just na the other window 

 flowers. It is set out under the shade of the 

 shrubbery in Summer, and in Winter stands 

 with Fuchsias, Geraniums, and such like. The 

 room is often below 45° at night. I am quite 

 delighted with my .success with it, after the flor- 

 ists predicting failure. 



BOUGAINVILL/EA SPECTABILIS. 



liY W. FAI.CONEK. 



Although a native of tropical South America, 

 this gorgeous climbing shrub feels quite at home 

 with us in our Acacia house, which is an airy 

 house with a Winter night temperature of 38° to 

 42°. It is growing in a shallow tub, in a compost 

 of turfy loam with a little peat and leaf soil, and 

 is trained up a pillar, thence along the top of the 

 house. In Summer we give it lots of water, but 

 in Winter keep it as dry as a Cactus. About the 

 10th of April its paniculate inflorescence and 

 wealth of showy rose-colored bracts become con- 

 spicuous and last all through May. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



PiiYSiANTiius ALBENS. — Prof. Thurbcr says the 

 prior name, and therefore the one to be adopted 

 as the correct name of this pretty greenhouse 

 plant, and excellent Summer border flower, is 

 Arauja. This makes the third name in Horti- 

 cultural history — Schubertia and Physianthus 

 being the old ones. 



The Artillery Plant for Window Gardens. 

 — A lady friend of ours has a large specimen of 

 this curious plant, which she has grown since 

 last Fall, in her kitchen window, and it has 

 given her more satisfaction than all her other 

 window inmates. It kept constantly green and 

 growing, and as sunlight increased, its mantle of 

 miniature muskets thickened, till now it repre- 

 sents a model umbrageous tree, with boughs so 

 sncculent and heavy, that a rough shake or 

 breath would seem to shatter them. Associated 

 with Oxalises, Mahernia verticillata. Petunias, 

 and a few others, it made January look like May. 

 A great addition to this kitchen window in mid- 

 winter was the festooned drapery of the Madeira 

 vine. 



