18*76.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



as suitable and useful for information as a race- 

 horse is in its line, and Mr. Jeffreys in one of 

 his critics on the "Horticulturist" calls it "a 

 costly royal toy," adding that it is "a luxury 

 of which I cannot loell see the utility in so much ex- 

 pense." Well, would it be English if it were 

 not costly? Only think of it — sixty thousand 

 pounds sterling, to "dome" over only half an 

 acre of ground, for the exhibition of more iron, 

 tubs and pottery, than foliage and flowers, serv- 

 ing more to satisfy the vulgar curiosity of the 

 London sight seers, than the scientific thirsts of 

 students. For, what it is smaller in size and in- 

 ferior in efficiency than the Chatsworth conser- 

 vatory, covering an area of more than an acre, it 

 makes up in useless, costliness and ostenta- 

 tion, like some people's books, of which the bind- 

 ings cost more than the books themselves are 

 worth. 



The celebrated Palm-gardens, at Frankfort on 

 the Main, originally built for the Duke of Nassau 

 on his place at Biborich were, after his media- 

 tisation, acquired by a society and removed to 

 Frankfort. They have since been considerably 

 increased in extent, and a richer collection of 

 tropical and sub-tropical plants in large and fine 

 specimens could not well be found in any other 

 establishment. In this enterprise the society has 

 expended up to this day the snug sum of about 

 half a million of florins (200,000 dollars), and has 

 the flattering satisfaction of realizing, together 

 with a universal and enthusiastic ajiproval of an 

 appreciating public, an encouraging financial 

 return on the outlay, by charging only half a 

 florin (.20 cents) admission fee. 



Here, an arrangement of the plants, more 

 natural and thus more beautiful, than that in the 

 Kew Palm-house, forms one of the chief attrac- 

 tions, but, as in all the older structures of this kind, 

 the too great length in proportion to the width and 

 the uniform level of the ground or floor, made 

 full, or at least a better success in this direction, 

 impossible. We also miss the aquatic plants and, 

 besides a puerile, though larger than usual, 

 "rockwork with cascade," we notice incongrui- 

 ties, such as vases with a yucca or a dracsena 

 stuck into them ; palms, over forty feet high, in 

 tubs, which are by no means improved by being 

 coated with bark ; but what is decidedly most ob- 

 jectionable is the circumstance, that even here 

 some genius, delighting in small things, has been 

 permitted to intrude the paltry product of his 

 talent for rag-quilting into this assemblage of the 

 floral aristocracy of the tropics. (When will 



both gardeners and amateurs learn to under- 

 stand where ribbon or mosaic planting, and how 

 much of it, is proper?) 



The roof of this, in every essential respect, ad- 

 mirable conservatory, is appropriately simple 

 and unpretending, not forcing itself unduly and 

 first of all upon the visitor's eye. It is, what it 

 always should be, — the mere shell of a sweet and 

 delicious kernel. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Calla ^thiopica. — Our lady readers will value 

 the following little hint from a correspondent of 

 the Gardener's Maf/asine: — With a comparatively 

 small number of plants, I have been cutting 

 blossoms nearly every week for the last twelve 

 months (not less than two hundred in all), and 

 from the appearance of the plants, as to buds 

 and luxuriant foliage, I may expect a succession 

 during the coming winter months, when other 

 white flowers are so difficult to procure, espe- 

 cially for church decorations. I must add that 

 I give the Callas very little rest, some of them 

 none whatever. By this system of culture the 

 old roots do not die, and the plants certainly pro- 

 duce much finer blooms. 



Button-hole Roses. — Mr. Radclyffe must have 

 written in fun when he recommends Madame C. 

 Joigneaux and Charles Lefebvre as button-hole 

 Roses; but he might as well have "gone the 

 whole hog " and recommended a full-expanded 

 Paul Neron. He omits many beautiful button- 

 hole Roses — e.g., Madam Falcot, Madam F. 

 Janin, La Boule de Neige, and Prince Camille de 

 Rohan (in bud). There are several fine Teas^ 

 too, of late introduction that he does not men- 

 tion ; for instance, Anna Ollivier, very fine in bud 

 for button-holes, and Amazone, the same. I do 

 not think we shall find many rosarians recom- 

 mend Abbe Bramerel, Maxime de la Rocheterie 

 or Baron Chaurand for any purpose. — P., in Jour- 

 nal of Horticidture. 



Treatment of Oranges'. — The small Otaheite 

 Orange, so useful for winter flowering, should, 

 when out of bloom, have its growth pushed on 

 in a little warmth. This plant is subject to scale, 

 and before any young growth is made they 

 should be thoroughly cleansed with insecticide, 

 using the sponge in preference to the brush, the 

 latter being liable to scratch the leaves. Plants 

 of varieties of large growth that have . flowered 

 should be similarly treated. Oranges of all 



