1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



It may do, to increase the number of plants, 

 especially if wholesaling, but it will not do if you 

 are desirous of "cut blooms." I was told by a 

 rose-grower the practice was bad, to use only wood 

 from flowering shoots ; since doing so have no 

 complaint of blind wood. Judging from plants I 

 have bought, think the general practice is to use 

 "blind wood." Saratoga Springs, N. V. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



JlosE LusiAOES.^ — This rose was regarded as a 

 most remarkable sport, and some attention was 

 attracted to it even in this country where anything 

 claiming to be " fancy " among roses is sure to 

 have a good run. But it appears from a note in 

 the Journal ties Roses, that it was a case of 

 merely temporary change, as we often see in our 

 own country with Homer and other roses, and 

 that the original observer was not a man with the 

 floricultural knowledge to know the value of these 

 temporary changes. This is the charitable view, 

 although the Journal puts a harsher construction 

 on it. However, the following is a translation 

 which we find in the number for May ist : 



" Rose amateurs will, we are sure, learn with 

 great interest, that the pretended new rose, Lusia- 

 des, has flowered in our establishment. It has 

 occupied full sheets of advertisements in many 

 publications, where it was certified that the flowers 

 were of a golden yellow with carmine spots. 



" When we received it we remarked that the 

 plant in every way resembled Celine Forestier. 

 The pretended raiser might have offered it as a 

 fixed sport of that old rose. But now we can 

 certify that Rosa Lusiades, which has flowered 

 with us, is nothing else than Noisette Celine 

 Forestier. 



" It is also curious to state that this rose has 

 already been sent out under the name of Liesis. 

 It is therefore evident that Mr. Da Costa, who 

 sent out Rosa Lusiades at the enormous price of 

 5of., and who does not reply to any letters which 

 complain of his behavior, has deceived the horti- 

 cultural public. SOUPERT & NOTTING." 



" Luxembourg, April, 1885." 



MiMULUs Culture in Pots. — I have occasion- 

 ally seen, in country districts, Mimuluses grown 

 by cottagers as window plants, and with astonish- 

 ing success. 1 have also met with good plants of 

 them at cottagers' shows thoroughly well grown 

 and flowered. Mimuluses have been much im- 

 proved of late. The introduction of the copper- 



colored M. cupreus, some years ago, placed in the 

 hands of cultivators an admirable subject with 

 which to cross other kinds, and it has been suc- 

 cessfully and well used for that purpose. We are 

 now familiar with strains having large and hand- 

 somely-marked flowers, but they are, nevertheless, 

 not so generally grown as one could desire. The 

 fact is, a little special treatment is needed. The 

 plants require a cool, shaded, airy position, and 

 they should not be allowed to suffer from want of 

 water. A cool north house suits them best, and 

 here a fine display can be had all through the 

 summer and autumn by keeping up a succession 

 of plants. The seed is so small that a mere pinch 

 will produce many plants, and if a little be sown 

 in a pan or pot in some gritty soil in September, 

 by January the young seedlings will be quite 

 strong enough to pot off singly into 3-in. pots, and 

 finally shifted into 5-in. pots to flower ; or, if larger 

 specimens be wanted, into 8-in. pots. The Mimu- 

 lus is quite hardy ; no heat is required, but by keep- 

 ing the plants in a greenhouse all the winter they 

 make certain progress. A little more seed can be 

 sown in the end of February, and the produce of 

 these two sowings will yield quite enough plants 

 to keep up a good supply through the season. 



Mimuluses succeed best in a north house where 

 the floor can be sprinkled with water and the 

 plants occasionally syringfld. In a house where 

 the temperature is high green fly is apt to attack 

 them, but where they are kept cool and growing 

 vigorously in a moist atmosphere this pest rarely 

 troubles them, and, if it does, a good fumigation 

 with tobacco smoke soon kills them. If there be 

 a few exceptionally good varieties, a selection may 

 be made for seeding from and for propagating by 

 division of the roots. If the plants be cut down 

 after they have done flowering and put into a cold 

 frame they will throw up a number of shoots from 

 the roots, and if these be divided and potted into 

 good soil, they in course of time make excellent 

 plants. But the cultivator should always make a 

 point of raising a few seedlings ; it is so pleasant 

 to watch the expanding flowers, and even if some 

 prove of an inferior character, some will certainly 

 be satisfactory. A good strain of seed cannot fail 

 to yield a good supply of plants. 



There is no reason why Mimuluses should not 

 be grown in the open border, but heavy rains and 

 rough winds injure the plants severely, and soon 

 rob them of their beauty. If planted out, the 

 plants should be supported by stakes so as to 

 lessen the chances of danger from wind, and if 

 dwarfer growing plants can be put about them. 



