1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



5 



them all right they have a fashion of getting small 

 by degrees, and beautifully less, until there is noth- 

 ing left to remind one of their once happy existence 

 but the label and the pot. Truly they are like the 

 ways of Providence — :past finding out. I find I do 

 better with such small seeds as begonias, lobelias, 

 mimulus, &c., by using a handful of small crocks, 

 bits of charcoal, or rough peat, on the top of the 

 pot or pan. Sow the seed and water with the rose. 

 I find they seldom .need anything more until they 

 are fit to handle, but even then they are not safe, 

 for about this time along comes a swarm of cater- 

 pillars and bugs', snails and slugs, and I often won- 

 der we don't all go crazy at once and be done with 

 it. 



Pansies, Viola, Petunias, Dianthus, Coreopsis, 

 &c., are all pricked off in boxes to be stowed away 

 from frost — if we have any — and planted out 

 about the middle of January, some to do duty all 

 summer, and others to be burned up as soon as 

 real hot weather comes. 



The thermometer has not registered lower than 

 60° outside at six A. M., this season, as yet (Nov. 

 15) ; Pointsettas are ablaze outside in the ground, 

 roses in basketfuls, and coleus look better than they 

 did in July or August. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Single Dahlias. — The new race of Single 

 Dahlias, which is commanding so much attention 

 in Europe, has not yet made its appearance to any 

 extent in our country, but Mr. Wm. f^alconer writes 

 to the American Garden for November, from Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., that " Mr. Cullingford, of London, 

 an amateur horticulturist of most refined taste, sent 

 me, last spring, some seeds of single dahlias saved 

 from his own collection. These seedlings are now 

 in blossom, and display a general beauty and ex- 

 cellence at once gratifying and surprising." 



Philadelphia Tairmount Park. — Philadel- 

 phians cannot boast of the high condition of many 

 of her public works, but they take comfort in con- 

 sidering that they get more for their money than 

 people get elsewhere. Horticultural Hall and its 

 beautiful surroundings, only cost the city of Phila- 

 delphia $15,000 in 1882, and the whole of Fair- 

 mount Park only $95,000, though it has 2200 acres. 

 On the other hand, Central Park, New York, only 

 one-third its size, had $400,000. 



Roads and Traveling Comforts in China. 

 — Mr. Maries continues in the London Garden his 



remarkably instructive sketches of Chinese travel. 

 Of the roads he says : " I went by steamer to Kui- 

 kiang and was favored with the use, of a nice bunga- 

 low on the mountains, inland from that place. There 

 are are no decent roads in China ; the main path is 

 generally only about six feet wide, and often paved 

 with irregularly shaped stones, or rather was once 

 upon a time ; now there are a few stepping stones 

 for a few feet, then a few yards of mud. If a horse 

 or coolie chair comes along, one has to either step 

 down into a mud rice field or dispute the way with 

 the comers. Near Kuikiang the Chinese are not of 

 the best disposition, and I avoided the villages and 

 generally turned off the road if I saw many people 

 coming. I was stopped several times by the na- 

 tives and told I had no right there, or that I must 

 go back. Once I had all the plants I had collected 

 taken from me by a priest and a gang of cut-throat- 

 looking fellows. I, however, fetched them again at 

 nig^ht. Once I was surrounded in a village, and I 

 thought tile curiosity of the natives would have re- 

 sulted in stripping me of all I had. The frightful 

 diseases with which some of the Chinese are 

 afflicted, it is sickening to behold. The miserable 

 wretches had made me almost mad to be clear of 

 them. Most indescribable skin diseases, others 

 just recovered from small-pox, others with toes and 

 fingers completely rotted off with disease. I have 

 many times walked two and three miles to avoid 

 the villages, and even then a crowd would follow 

 me, shouting " foreign devil," etc. The Kuikiang 

 Mountains extend from north to south of the 

 Poyang Lake." 



Rose Centenario des Camoens. — The Jour- 

 nal des Roses is very enthusiastic over this new 

 rose. 



New Golden Feverfew. — We can put up with 

 a Latin generic and specific name, in consideration 

 of the many advantages of an uniform system, 

 though the name be hard ; but " Matricaria eximia 

 nana aurea crispa compacta flore pleno "' seems a 

 little too much of a good thing. It is among the 

 latest of German novelties. 



White Tigridia. — Everybody knows the pretty 

 summer flowering bulb, the Tigridia or Tiger 

 flower. We have the red Tigridia pavonia, and 

 the yellow conchiflora. The white, according to 

 Revue Horticole was raised and recently sent out 

 by M. Hennequin, of Angers, France. In habit 

 and general aspect it is said to be similar to the 

 older variety T. conchiflora, from which it seems to 

 have sprung. Its flowers are large, of a dead or 

 pearly-white color, marked at the base of each 



