236 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[August, 



NEW DOUBLE VAR. SWEET ALYSSUM. 



BY MRS M. 1). W., YARMOUTH, ME. 



Single variegated Sweet Alyssum is not a nov- 

 elty, but this year I am indebted to Mr. John 

 Goode for a double variegated, appropriately 

 named the Gem. Seeing it advertised in the 

 Horticulturist, I sent for one, and one terribly 

 bitter, stormy evening it was brought me from 

 the office, safely cradled in a pasteboard tube, 

 with wrappings of cotton and moss. The little 

 darling was a beauty, with its pure, waxen buds 

 and blossoms in a setting of delicate emerald 

 and white; just as pert as though it were fresh 

 from the greenhouse, instead of having taken a 

 journey of nearly three thousand miles, and 

 through a snow storm, too. 



FLORAL GOSSIP. 



BY EDWIN LONSDALE. 



We must not place the rose " American Ban- 

 ner" in the same category' with rose "Beauty of 

 Glazenwood," for the latter was considered a 

 fraud from the first time it was exhibited, by 

 such judges in England as Mr. Charles Noble, 

 Mr. Charles Turner, and others. The American 

 Banner produces veritable striped buds, which 

 sell in New York in Janiaary at $25 per 100. Its 

 rarity and novelty ot course regulates the price, 

 but whether it will become popular as a winter 

 blooming rose will depend, I think, very much 

 on fashion. Mr. Henderson has got a large and 

 well-grown stock of it ; so if any one feels like 

 going into it on a large or small scale they need 

 not have any apprehensions about getting all 

 they may want. 



All Mr. Henderson's pot roses were in fine 

 health and vigor when I saw them. The show 

 of buds which presented themselves would have 

 done credit to many a bed of established plants. 

 He finds the most sale for Niphetos, Safrano, Isa- 

 bella Rprunt, Bon Silene, Cordelia Cook, Douglass 

 and Perle des Jardines. The latter rose is now 

 taking the place of M. Neil in some establish- 

 ments, it being a free and continuous bloomer 

 when properly grown, and the flowers are nearly 

 as large and higher in color than the well-known 

 "Neil." 



The new carnation "Snowden" was pretty 

 well used up for cuttings when I saw it. There 

 is no doubt about its being dwarf, and for this 

 reason alone it will be valuable, on account of 

 its not needing much head room. 



Carnations are not considered profitable by 



some of the grow'ers around New York; a dis- 

 ease gets among them, and gradually takes the 

 whole lot off. 



Mr. Wm. Bennett, Flatbush, L. I., grows car- 

 nations, the best, I think, I have ever seen. He 

 grows Peerless largely, and King of the Crimsons, 

 the freest flowering and best dark colored carna- 

 tion I have met with. Miss JoUiffe he has in 

 large quantity ; it is a delicate shade of pink. 

 '' Snow-white " — a kind sent out a short time ago 

 by Mr. Peter Henderson — is proving itself to be 

 a wonderful free bloomer, and the flowers are 

 pure white. It is a decided acquisition. I 

 have heard complaints that it does not pos- 

 sess sufficient vigor, but under Mr. Bennett's 

 treatment it is certainly hard to beat. His treat- 

 ment is to keep them quite cool at night, and to 

 give them plenty of air on every favorable op- 

 portunity in the day time. 



I am satisfied that the cool treatment is the 

 proper one for carnations, and if all the growers 

 around New York or elsewhere would adopt 

 this mode of growing them, instead of a rose- 

 forcing temperature, they would not have them 

 in such a deplorable state as they were last 

 winter. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Large Marechal Neil Rose. — Mr. Pearson, an 

 English florist, cut from one plant last year 2000 

 flowers. Probably some of our large rose grow- 

 ers could beat this. We should like to know. 



Improve jlENTS in Propagating. — Possibly in 

 no department of gardening has there been such 

 wonderful progress made as in the art of propa- 

 gation. It is pleasant reading to go back ovei 

 the gardening of magazines of but a quarter 

 century ago, and see how much was made of 

 propagating houses, propagating tanks, propa- 



gating glasses, and other et ceteras, and to note 

 that the art of the propagator was ranked almost 

 with art of the magician. Now all this is changed 

 Good common sense is vet needed to be a sue- 



